red-brick: Feed ConfigParser with UTF-8 encoded string instead of unicode object

At least with Python 2.6 on Windows the ConfigParser does not correctly
handle unicode objects as input. It treats the second byte in an UTF-16
code unit at the end of the input as a NUL char and complains about it.
red-brick: Hide text on ping-pong progress bars

Because atleast on Windows the UI layout reserves space of the
non-existing text on the right side of the progressbar.
red-brick: Ensure to use os.path for host paths and posixpath RED Brick paths
red-brick: Ensure to properly close all open dialog on RED Brick disconnect
red-brick: Ensure that progress dialogs are at least 400px wide