VISUALSTUDIO.COM : The server encountered an unknown failure: The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel

Maybe this is telling me to go do a better Saturday than continue coding for our new product 🙂

I tried to check-in some changes that I made in our solutions and I got this error: The server encountered an unknown failure: The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel. We are hosted to VisualStudio.com (the former TFS Service). If you also have this error, it means that there is a problem with the TFS Service or in Azure. Check out this link for their Service Dashboard:

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/service-dashboard/

I searched the net and so far here’s from the TFS Service blog on MSDN: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tfservice/archive/2013/02/22/service-interruption-2-22-2013-update.aspx

So I guess, I would not be doing some check-in’s for a while. It’s a good Saturday and its weekend. I should not be working now lol. Bye for now.

AMD EyeFinity Multi-Monitor Setup For Windows 8

My Semi-Official Statement: I needed more landscape in my desktop, two monitors is not enough for my use anymore. To demo also, instead of brining three PC’s, I needed to consolidate my labs into one machine. Plus having more monitors gives me the ability to review documents side by side in full screen not to mention the other window for monitoring activities. I will use more monitors to have a more visual view of my projects and all. I would mumble on and on and on and on on why I NEED more monitors but for my personal use, a kickass rig for all my games, not to mention a really nice Windows 8 interface for Demos 🙂

So having the “Problem” statement here’s how I did it:

I have here an AMD Phenom II X4 955 Procecssor with 3.12 GHZ and 8GB of RAM, so of course I needed to use a x64 Version of Windows 8. 

The reason having to have this rig is more power, I needed that for something cooler later.

I searched over the internet on how to have 3 or more monitors and it seems that Windows without any high-end Graphic card natively supports up to 2 monitors only. I tested it and it seems that is the case.

What I got is a Sapphire HD 7950 that has the AMD Eyefinity 2.0 technology.

I said earlier that I needed a third monitor, so I got another attachment called a AMD Active Mini Display Port (note not Passive but Active). See this list for details http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx 

Oh and I am a fan of Samsung, I use Samsung monitors and TV’s all over the house and for my set-up I am using SyncMaster 940 BW’s. These are very old models, but I had two of them for years (tough monitors) and I just found another one over our local ebay-like forums. Now lets install them.

NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU INSTALL THE PROPER DRIVERS AND SOFTWARES.

So what are the possibilities with three monitors with AMD. I basically use two things here. The native Windows Control Panel – Screen Resolution (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display\Screen Resolution) or the AMD Vision Engine Control Center

When you use the native screen resolution, it gives you the usual extended desktop and as you can see the third monitor is now detected and being used. However if you use the Control Center, it gives you the ability to combine your three desktops into one. This is Eyefinity. Because Eyefinity combines your desktop, the snap and maximize behavior would be the default of Windows, because three monitors are treated as one. To have that behavior back, we turn into another tool in AMD called the Hydra Grid. If you install the proper drivers and softwares from the graphic card manufacturer, HydraGrid is installed as well. This lets you edit a grid in your desktops where your apps and windows can snap to.

Okay, now time to use this awesome machine! Time to launch WarHammer: Dawn Of War II! be productive!

If you are interested there are some sample clips on YouTube.