Kian Ryan (.NET, Android, Geekery)

I often end up working in collaborative environments, with SQL Server accounts which only allow me access to one database on any given server. Using the SQL Server 2005 tools, this wasn’t a problem. SQL SMS showed me all the databases available but threw an “access denied” if I tried to do anything to them. Fairy nuff.

SQL SMS 2008 however refuses to show the databases in the object explorer. I can open a new query window, switch to the database and access it via T-SQL, but I can’t directly interact with any of the databases as I could with SMS 2005.

Turns out that when SQL SMS 2008 probes each of the databases, it’s also checking for the collation of the database. If the user doesn’t have read access to the database SQL SMS throws an exception which stops it from probing any further and returns an empty list of databases. To get around this you need to turn the collation checking off. To do this, select “Databases” in Object Explorer, then press F7 which opens the “Object Explorer Details”. Right click on the columns across the top and deselect “Collation”. Right-click, “Refresh” your databases and you should be able to see them all again.

I’ve just got off the phone from a Product Specialist at Apple Care.

One of the common tricks to perform to get older games to run stable under multi-core systems is to disable one of the cores. On my previous generation MacBook Black this was straightforward enough. Install XCode developer tools off the install CD, pop into:

/Library/Application Support/HWPrefs/CPUPalette.app

click to disable one of the cores and you’re laughing. Apart from the fact this doesn’t work on the new MBP. So I spent 30 minutes on the phone to AppleCare, who eventually let slip that the developer tools for the new MBP haven’t been finished yet and the ones on the included DVDs were horribly out of date.

All the effort is being focused on the new release of Snow Leopard, but there should be some new developer tools coming somewhere in the next month to resolve the problem.

So if you’re thinking of buying a new MBP and like to play some of those good old-timer games like Myst III and NeverWinter Nights, I’d hold your horses until they get the new developer tools out. I’ll update the blog when they do.