Julian Timpner

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.

Everybody who finds himself in the situation that he or she has to take the GRE General Test will receive a CD with the GRE® POWERPREP software from ETS a few days after registering for the test. Alternatively, the software can be downloaded from the ETS website.

However, it only works with Windows OS up to XP. With Vista users experienced a lot of trouble trying to install POWERPREP, but using the compatibility mode they were able to start and use the test prep material. Nevertheless, using Windows 7 I could not accomplish to get it startet, even with the compatibility mode: the window just flickered and nothing else happened.

A possible solution for those, who do not want to install Windows XP on a separate partition, is the new Windows 7 XP mode. The XP mode offers the capability to run a Windows XP environment from your Windows 7 desktop. It therefore requires a processor with the Intel® Virtualization Technology or AMD-V™ turned on and Windows 7 Professional or higher. The Intel® Processor Spec Finder helps to find out whether your (Intel) CPU meets these requirement.

If so, you can download Virtual PC and the XP mode installer. After the installation a reboot is required. Within the XP mode POWERPREP installs and runs smoothly.

GRE® POWERPREP and GRE® General Test are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). This website is not endorsed or approved by ETS.

Like others, whose webhoster is 1and1 and who use Wordpress version 2.7.1, I experienced a lot of problems with some very popular plugins, such as

• qTranslate,
• NextGen.

After activating the plugin, an

Internal server error 500

occured whilst using the admin panel, even preventing me from deactivating the plugin. In this case, there’s only one option left: connect via FTP to your webspace, chance directory to your wordpress root, and in wp-conten/plugins rename the plugin directory. This way, Wordpress doesn’t find it anymore and will deactivate the plugin automatically.

But, of course, there has to be a workaround, instead of simply not using certain plugins. The following activates PHP5 on your webspace and worked out perfectly for me:

1. Open (or create) a .htaccess file in your wordpress root.
2. Add these lines:

   1 2 3

   Options All -Indexes AddType x-mapp-php5 .php AddHandler x-mapp-php5 .php

Today, I took the ISTQB certification exam for the foundation level and some things struck me that might be of some interest for future examinees. As one has to sign a formal obligation saying that you’re not allowed to give information about exam questions, I cannot be very specific. However, here are some hints:

• The standard textbook for the exam, “Software Testing Foundations – A Study Guide for the Certified Tester Exam” written by Spillner and Linz, is suitable for giving a survey and it prepares you very well for the chapters “Tool support for testing”, “Fundamentals of testing” and some other. Learn them by heart!
• Still, even if you know the whole book literally by heart, there is only a not-so-good chance to pass! In order to be really good prepared, you should also learn the Syllabus, which can be downloaded from the ISTQB website. You should learn the Syllabus really good, otherwise a lot of questions are unanswerable, because they do not depend on understanding but the wording of the Syllabus.
• Some questions are really incomprehensible, even if you are well prepared. At least one question in my exam didn’t make any sense, so you better anticipate that some questions are like gambling.
• The word is that some people offer sample papers / sample exams / sample solutions on the web. If you like, use them to a impression of how questions are asked, but better be careful with the solutions–they often are wrong! So, don’t rely on things on the web, but on the Syllabus.

The examination results are send via email one week after the exam, at the latest. Of course, I’m gonna post my results as soon as I get them.

[UPDATE]
Just got my results: PASSED with 85%!

Today, after 4 months’ work, we completed our team project software 3DScanner. The project’s goal was to capture real-world objects of any size and recreate them as 3D models in a virtual environment.

3DScanner has a lot of advantages compared to other (even commercial) products. Firstly, only one camera is needed. Any off-the-shelf digital camera can be used. It does not have to be stabilized in any way (i.e. no tripod necessary), neither does it have to be calibrated. Camera calibration takes place automatically after downloading the images to a computer.

The process is fully automatic, only silhouette images have to be created manually. We propose using GIMP to cut out the objects and and fill the background with black. Then, 3DScanner is able to create a mesh in the obj file format.

For further information, please visit the project website.

For I have only found few explanations about how to use the GLUT library for OpenGL programming with Visual Studio 2008, I’ll give it a try myself:

1. Download the GLUT library from
2. Unzip it
3. glut.h – needs to be copied to the include/gl directory within the Microsoft SDK installation dir.
4. glut32.lib – at the same place, but in the lib subdir
5. glut32.dll – put this in the System32 dir.

Now, in Visual Studio create a new project as console application. Then, open the project properties, go to the Linker tab. Under Object/Library modules add

opengl32.lib glut32.lib glu32.lib

Finally, include <gl\glut.h></gl> in your source and your ready to go!

Well, I’m a 1and1 profiseller now, and whoever thinks about changing his/her internet service provider or just looks for a movie or cell phone flat, should visit my shop.

Cheap travel offers, Vodafone or BASE cell phone rates are also available. Go for it!
www.timpner.com/shop

Lindsystems creates computer graphics, especially fractals based on Lindenmayer formal grammars. It can also model quite realistic plant growth.

Our term paper for the advanced physics course can be downloaded from the Publications section. It describes our experiments with the Michelson interferometer and gives information about modern laser interferometry, quantum physics, and special theory of relativity.