Finally Bit the Bullet – I'm on Twitter

So, after saying a while ago that I didn't understand Twitter, I've now signed up for an account (softwaregrove).  Why the change of heart?  I thought I'd give it a try to see if it helped me understand the phenomenon.  Truthfully, the thing that finally convinced me is a bit embarrassing – the lure of free (as in beer) software.  See my tweets (I can't believe I just typed that!) to learn more.

Looking For Part-Time Groovy/Grails Work

As you can see from my LinkedIn profile, I'm an experienced Java developer (starting with 1.0 and 1.1 in the Fall of 1997), who's done some work with Groovy and Grails.  Although I love Java the Platform, I've decided (like many others I know) to gradually shift my emphasis away from Java the Language.  I've decided to focus on Groovy for now, but I can easily imagine adding Scala to my portfolio as well.
So, here's my challenge: I have the good fortune to have long-term Java work for a client that takes up most, but not all of my time.  That means that if I were to take on new Grails (or straight Groovy) work, it would have to be part-time.  That really limits my options.  If I can't find paid part-time work, I'll probably try to contribute to an existing Grails plug-in.  I already author an open source Groovy project, but it's so small that it doesn't really push me to improve my skills.
Any other suggestions?

Update: I found just what I was looking for with Wingu, a startup in stealth mode creating next generation science applications on the web.  Last week, I started working for them a day a week.  I'm looking forward to some Groovy/Grails/Gradle goodness. :)  (reference to mrhaki only slightly intentional)
By the way, if you're looking for something similar and you live in the L.A. area, I just saw a post show up on LinkedIn.  If you're not a member of LinkedIn, here are the details (PDF) on the Extremely Heavy Industries website.  I'm not familiar at all with the company, so make sure to perform your standard due diligence.

Update (Mar. 2, 2010): Things with Wingu didn't work out. :(  I'm back to looking.  This time around I'll try to do a better job of figuring out whether I can perform useful work for the client with the limited number of hours I have available.

Update (Sept. 1, 2015): I took a full-time job with CarGurus.com back in June of 2013 and I've been very happy here. If you're in the Boston area, I highly recommend it as a place to work.

Prediction for 2010: VMware acquires Terracotta

While at SpringOne2GX back in October, the thought occurred to me that Terracotta would make a really interesting acquisition target for VMware.  VMware has had some pretty amazing virtualization technology for a while, including the ability to migrate live virtual machines between physical boxes, but it has (as far as I know) all been focused on low-level infrastructural magic.  That changed with their acquisition of SpringSource last year, which followed shortly after SpringSource's acquisition of Cloud Foundry.  Now, if you just add Terracotta to the mix, you could make it possible to easily deploy an auto-scaling clustered app to the cloud.  Doesn't that sound interesting?  Add to that the fact that Terracotta has been a sponsor for at least the last two SpringOne conferences in the U.S., SpringSource and Terracotta have already collaborated to build a sample app, and Terracotta brings Ehcache (easy clustered caching) to the table.  Seems like a potent combination to me.

I have no concrete grounds for this prediction beyond the points above, but I wanted to get the idea out there now just in case it actually happens. ;)

Update (May 26, 2010): Unfortunately, with the announcement of SpringSource/VMware's acquisition of Gemstone, my prediction is now unlikely to occur.  Oh, well.  Plenty of others before me have been wrong. ;)

Problems with NVIDIA GT220 and Windows 7 64-bit

Sorry about the extremely narrow focus of this post, but I wanted to make sure that anyone out there suffering from the same problems as mine knows that they're not alone.

I recently built a computer from parts (more on that another time – I'm not sure how many people would be interested in the details) to use as my primary development machine.  The last time I built a machine was in 1999 or 2000.  A lot has changed in the past ten years.  Fortunately, the assembly/setup process went relatively smoothly, except for problems with one part.  I bought the ASUS-branded version of the NVIDIA GT220 (ENGT220) graphics card from NewEgg.  I'd happily link to their product listing, but that would be rather silly, given that I can't currently recommend it as a purchase.  The card slid nicely into the PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot and my DVI cable attached happily to the appropriate port (this version of the card comes with D-SUB/VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports).  However, when it came time to install Windows 7 64-bit, the problems began.

At first, it was recognized as merely a generic video card – no big surprise, still a bit of a disappointment for a mainstream card that is by no means on the bleeding edge.  My next idea was to download drivers from ASUS's website.  I installed the newest version and rebooted.  Up came the the login screen at full resolution and I thought I was done.  Unfortunately, after I logged in, my screen went totally blank/black.  After much experimenting and many installs/uninstalls, I managed to get the card to work with a slightly older version of the drivers provided by ASUS.  The story would end there, but sadly the problem returned shortly after.  This time, I first did a search on Google for gt220 screen blank, which revealed that others were having similar problems, and not just with the ASUS version.  After reading a blog post and some forum questions and trying several other driver versions, I finally found something promising.  A user on the NVIDIA forums complained that his DVI port had stopped working.  Inspired by that, I tried connecting my monitor via the D-SUB/VGA port instead of DVI.  That worked!  Since then, I've been running for two weeks without a problem.  I can't say I find the solution very satisfying, but at least it worked.

• Steve Holden's Windows 7 Tip - NVIDIA GT 220 driver
• HP Forums: e9280t w/ GT 220 v.c. monitor goes blank with kernel driver error
• SevenForums: Geforce GT 220 question
• NVIDIA Forums: GT220 - No Signal on DVI after reboot
• EVGA Forums: Computer won't restart after installing GeoForce GT 220
• SevenForums: GT220 and W7 driver problem

By the way, I'd love to get feedback from other GT220 owners as to whether the solution I described (or something different) works for you.  Please let me know in the comments.

Update (Dec. 10, 2010): I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I finally gave up and bought a new graphics card with an ATI Radeon HD 5570.  I'd link to the actual card, but I got a great deal on it because it was just about to be discontinued.  So far, it's been great.  It's slightly faster than my GT220 card, consumes less power, has a quieter fan, and (best of all) works on both the D-SUB and DVI ports.  Good luck to everyone who sticks with their GT220!