Augur's Ramblings

15k 500 Festival Mini Marathon

2008-04-12T08:43:00.002-04:00

One of the first runners blurs past mile marker 2.

Heart shaped cupcake...

2008-02-14T23:18:00.001-05:00

In protest of vday Tony and I went to see Spiderwick. Laurie made us both heart shaped cupcakes. Ok, ok I'll cave to pressure...

Princess Squeaker

2007-11-02T12:01:00.001-04:00

"How dare you intrude upon my chambers! Be gone with you!"

Dresser

2007-10-30T14:50:00.001-04:00

If I remember and its still here tomorrow I'll buy it. That's my measure of whether its worth the price. It is a pretty cheap and very solid Bassett dresser.

phone blog?

2007-10-25T15:17:00.000-04:00

Here I am sitting in the hospital waiting room. Apparently I can blog from my phone. How cool is that? I guess I have no excuse now. Oh bother...

New Kitty

2007-06-05T21:55:00.001-04:00

She's obviously going to be a database admin when she grows up. Her name is Squeaker.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2007-05-27T22:46:00.000-04:00

It occurred to me that every peanut butter cookie I have ever
eaten was really dry and tasted awful.  So I
decided to try and come up with something better.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar
2¼ cup cake flour (not all purpose!)
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup butter-flavor shortening
¾ cup sugar
2  eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter

Equipment
Ice cream scoop (or #20 disher)
2 or 3 baking sheets
Mixer

Preparation

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sift cake flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.
Combine shortening, sugar, and brown sugar and cream until light and fluffy.
Add 1 egg at a time to creamed mixture.
Add vanilla to creamed mixture.
Increase mixer speed until thoroughly incorporated.
Set mixer to low and slowly add the dry ingredients and combine well.
Add peanut butter to the mixer and mix well.
Chill the dough in freezer for about 10 minutes until it is firm but not frozen.
Scoop onto baking sheets, 6 per sheet, using an ice cream scoop or disher to maintain uniform size. The cookies need to be exactly the same size or some will burn and others will not be done. The size doesn't matter much as long as all the cookies are the same size. You can spray the disher with (butter flavor) cooking spray every few scoops to prevent the dough from sticking.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown and the center looks puffy. The cookies will spread out slightly just before they are done. Check the cookies after 5 minutes and rotate the baking sheet for even browning.
Cool the cookies for at least 10 minutes before removing them from the sheet. The center of the cookies will not look nearly as puffy once cool. Store in an airtight-container. If your container isn't completely airtight then place a slice of white bread in the container to keep the cookies moist.
Yield: 24-30 cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes.

Compaq Presario 2100US & Ubuntu Linux

2007-03-18T11:06:00.000-04:00

The Radeon Mobility graphics chipset in Compaq Presario 2100US notebooks seems to have some major quirks with the "ati" X video driver. I've finally managed to find a configuration that works perfectly and enables 3D graphics support. The configuration also works with the Beryl compositor. This is tested with Ubuntu Linux 7.04.

Here is the xorg.conf configuration file I am using.

Insight/GDB debugger for Windows on Linux

2006-10-22T00:22:00.000-04:00

I needed a debugger for Windows applications which runs on Linux. After some digging around I've found that the MinGW project is maintaining the Insight debugger from the old Red Hat GNUPro Toolkit. Insight is a graphical front-end for GDB (GNU Debugger). That's exactly what I need. But I need the Windows version and I need it running on Linux.

So I've made a package named mingw32-insight for use with Debian-based Linux distributions. There's a native build of Insight provided by Debian, also. My package is wrapped in such a way that it works with the CodeBlocks::IDE development environment, also. You can find instructions on how to add a Linux to Windows cross-compiler configuration for CodeBlocks in the forums. You can install my mingw32-insight package and skip steps 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 in the above forum posting. My package does all of that for you. My package also adds "Insight for 32-bit Windows" to your Applications -> Programming menu on the desktop.

Who knows how well this works in general. Its quite possible one could run into problems due to missing features in WINE's implementation of Microsoft Windows. But its better than nothing and exactly what I need.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

2006-09-17T22:23:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I complained about problems with the original Canon EOS Digital Rebel. I'm happy to say that the newer Digital Rebel XT is a great camera and costs nearly half as much as the Rebel. Newegg has a body-only Digital Rebel XT kit for a good price.

Since I bought a kit without a lens I decided to get something a bit more versatile than the usual 18-55mm lens. So I got a Canon EF 28-105mm f4-5.6. But the Canon EF 28-105mm f3.5-4 Mark II would have been worth the extra money. It has better optics and it affords a faster shutter speed. I think my next lens would be a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS. Its much wider angle and has image stabilization to help steady the shakes.

I took some photos of insects feeding on Sedum Telephium (Autumn Joy) flowers. I believe the first is some sort of skipperling. The second is a bumblebee, of course.

Integrated Circuits - for sale or trade

2006-08-15T00:28:00.000-04:00

I have some integrated circuits available if someone might be interested in purchasing some of them or trading something for them. Have a look at the list of Integrated Circuits and send me an email if you are interested in any of them.

I don't want to get rid of all of them but in most cases I have way more than I need. I have a large number of resistors and capacitors of various types (old, new, small, large, etc) which I've not cataloged. I have some older transistors, as well. I'll post a list of transistors at some point.

Football Browser?

2006-06-18T14:27:00.000-04:00

Now there's a clever way to promote Firefox adoption... The world is filled with Football (i.e., Soccer) fans. So Google and Nike have created a community website called Joga.com dedicated to Football. But this website has a twist.

Joga works with IE somewhat. IE users can chat and do some things. More interestingly, IE users are presented with "What if your browser became obsessed with Football" advertising.

The advertisements take you to page with a screenshot of Joga Companion which only works with Firefox. Joga Companion feeds scoring and "goal alerts" in realtime for the team(s) you are monitoring. You get little popup alerts in the usual Firefox popup fashion. And there's also a video feed system built-in that allows you to watch clips of the action. It themes Firefox according to the flag of the country you are currently monitoring.

Boring old Internet Explorer at Joga.com

New Firefox Hotness at Joga.com

Altogether new Domain

2006-06-11T20:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I registered a new domain this morning for whatever that's worth. For now it's pointing to webaugur.com.
http:// David L Norris .com /

Sun + Ubuntu = Aha!

2006-05-16T23:07:00.000-04:00

About 6 months ago I commented in OpenSolaris + Ubuntu = Nexenta:

I think that Sun should take a long hard look at what Nexenta is doing and strongly consider pursuing a similar course [with Solaris]. Debian truly is the way forward. Debian provides a rock upon which all other operating systems can be built.

Perhaps that was a moment of prescience on my part. Or maybe I'm overly optimistic right now... But today Sun seems very friendly with Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu. Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz and Mark Shuttleworth were on stage together at JavaONE and announced a number of important things. ZDNet reported this comment by Jonathan Schwartz,

The odds are quite good that we will be aggressively supporting the work that Ubuntu is doing...In the hardware we ship, I don't want to be Solaris only, because then I will just define my market to be smaller than the opportunity. I think you should expect to see more of the relationship, and stay tuned.

A curious project titled Nexenta was created in Canonical's Launchpad by Mark Shuttleworth a while back... Maybe it's nothing... Maybe it's something...

It's been my impression for quite a while that the Ubuntu June 2006 LTS (aka Dapper Drake) release would support the Sun Niagara hardware platform. There are mentions here or there from people working on it. Launchpad shows that SPARC support is implemented in some fashion in Ubuntu. I don't think the intention would be hum-drum SPARC support. Enthusiasm for Linux on Sun SPARC seems to have been pretty dead for the last 3-4 years. Not that it wouldn't be welcomed by many SPARC computer owners. In the past, Intel and AMD have been so much cheaper and better supported by Linux. Installing Linux on SPARC is about as painful as installing Solaris on Intel. The hardware driver support is abysmal in either case. Niagara is a different beast, though. Especially if Sun intends to help promote Ubuntu on Niagara. Niagara and Ubuntu could become a very compelling combination indeed.

But, wait, I said Linux tends to have lousy support for Sun SPARC hardware. But Nexenta is Ubuntu with a Solaris kernel... Hey, what if...Ubuntu could use the Solaris kernel and hardware drivers on SPARC (and thus Niagara). Oooh, now there's a mind bender. Keep your eyes peeled for that one... If my radar is truly working then that's exactly the sort of thing I'd expect to see. Maybe not for another release or two but certainly well before the next Ubuntu LTS (long term support) cycle begins.

Why is Windows Buggy?

2006-05-03T10:21:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered why there are so many security bugs and viruses on Windows? Let me posit for a moment that it's because people who write software for Windows are swimming in a sea of incomprehensibility. Microsoft often apologizes with "Windows is more flexible than UNIX" when they compare the two. Right, it's more flexible. Of course it is. If by some chance you can actually understand how any of it works.

Wait, what is UNIX?

To be clear, UNIX was originally an operating system developed by AT&T primarily in the 1960s-1970s. Today UNIX is a blueprint for how to create an operating system. There are many operating systems based on the UNIX System in wide spread use. UNIX Systems run a majority of the Internet, for example. The most popular systems are Linux, Apple Mac, and Sun Solaris. These systems are all very similar to each other. You can take a program written for one of them and use it on the others typically without any modifications.

There are generally two ways to do everything in the modern programming world: Microsoft's Way or Everyone Else's Way. Everyone Else generally falls under the umbrella of UNIX. Back in the 1980s Microsoft abandoned UNIX and decided that they would create their own beautiful yet incomprehensible way of doing everything. Everyone else stuck with the UNIX way of doing things. Why? UNIX systems represent everything in a relatively simple and well understood manner which hasn't changed much since hippies roamed the Earth.

Creating a Pipe

Let's take the example of a simple pipe. For the non-programmers out there a pipe is exactly what it sounds like: it's a pipe. To simplify, if you shove the text "Hello over there!" in one end of the pipe it comes out the other end. A pipe enables two separate computer programs to talk to each other.

I think even the non-programmers will see what I mean when I say that UNIX is easier to understand. Here are two examples of the same functionality from Microsoft's UNIX Application Migration Guide

UNIX Pipe

int main()
{
 int res = mkfifo("/tmp/my_fifo", 0777);

 if (res == 0)
     printf("FIFO created\n");
 exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

Windows Pipe


int main()
{
  BOOL fConnected;
  DWORD dwThreadId;
  HANDLE hPipe, hThread;
  LPTSTR lpszPipename = "\\\\.\\pipe\\mynamedpipe";

// The following is an approximation of the mode bits used
// in the UNIX example.  Will suffice until verified. 0777
hPipe = CreateNamedPipe(
        lpszPipename,             // pipe name
        PIPE_ACCESS_DUPLEX,       // read/write access
        PIPE_TYPE_MESSAGE |       // message type pipe
        PIPE_READMODE_MESSAGE |   // message-read mode
        PIPE_WAIT,                // blocking mode
        PIPE_UNLIMITED_INSTANCES, // max. instances
        BUFSIZE,                  // output buffer size
        BUFSIZE,                  // input buffer size
        PIPE_TIMEOUT,             // client time-out
        NULL);                    // no security attribute

  if (hPipe != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
      printf("FIFO created\n");
  exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

Notice how the Windows code needed a million comments to explain what in the world all that nonsense jargon was doing? (Comments are everything after a // in the above code.) The UNIX code was simply "mkfifo", a filename and some easily learnable security bits (0777). Simple enough that it needs no explanation.

Also telling is that Microsoft's UNIX example used 0777. 0777 disables all security allowing anything to access the fifo. This is just stupid. However it is understandable for a Windows programmer to do this out of habit. Windows programming interfaces don't have standardized security methods. Nearly every function has its own unique way of dealing with security. So you can't easily remember how security works in any given situation. So it's just easier to disable security and hope everything works out.

UNIX is a trademark of The Open Group. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Mac is a trademark of Apple. Somehow, Windows is a trademark of Microsoft. Trademark is a trademark of trademark. And so on.

Fear Not the Viruses, Trojans, Worms

2006-02-17T12:04:00.000-05:00

Anti-virus software and Anti-spyware software vendors frequently issue so-called press releases which proclaim imminent doom to all computers in the entire universe if people don't pay them lots of money. The so-called press releases proclaim, "Pledge allegance to XYZ Brand Antivirus Pro 9 and your computers will be completely invincible!"

Nearly every Microsoft Windows based computer I have ever encountered is filled with malware (viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, and other undesirable software). Especially those Windows computers with anti-virus software installed on them. Anti-virus software often proclaims "Your Computer is Now Clean" at the conclusion of its run. But upon closer inspection it is almost always wrong. Often it takes 4 or 5 separate programs from different vendors to remove all of the malware. There are very few exceptions to this. And most exceptions are because of the people using and maintaining those computers: not anti-virus software.

The other day I read about an oh-so-terrible "virus threat" to Macintosh Computers that will leave Macintosh owners "shellshocked". So the story goes, no instance of malware has ever caused significant damage to more than a few Macintosh computers. The anti-virus software vendors would have you believe that Macintosh computers aren't worth attacking...yet. They claim, "Any day all Macintosh computers in the world will be obliterated...unless everyone purchases XYZ Brand Anti-virus." Of course the anti-virus vendors are going to tell everyone to buy anti-virus software. That's their job.

Any reasonable person knows malware exists for Macintosh, Linux, and UNIX systems. The reason malware doesn't spread very widely on Mac, Linux and UNIX systems is because software applications on those systems are very diverse, well designed, updated immediately after a flaw is discovered and the users of those systems are attentive to potential threats. Users of Mac, Linux and UNIX systems aren't brainwashed into thinking that they are invincible by anti-virus corporations whose only concern is the bottom line. It is infinitely more likely that an actual person will infiltrate a Mac, Linux, and UNIX system because of a bad password or loose lips than malware would successfully attack it.

True computer security only comes with properly written software and well-informed computer users. No amount of anti-virus software will ever protect a computer system from attack by malicious people who wants access. However, properly written (operating system, email, web, instant messenger, office, etc) applications and sufficiently skeptical users will protect a computer system every time.

I would argue that anti-virus software leads to complacency. People who use antivirus software tell you, "I'm protected! I have XYZ Brand Anti-virus! They promised me a pony if I subscribed!" You might even find yourself explaining to them that their anti-virus software isn't even running or their subscription has never been renewed. Worse, those people fail to recognize real security threats because they are under the false impression that anti-virus software protects them. The true believers in antivirus feverishly update their software many times a day and verbally attack anyone who suggest it is a waste of time. Often the anti-virus users themselves run and spread viruses and trojan programs which they have acquired via instant messages, emails, and random websites. Their infected messages are followed with "I ran XYZ Brand Antivirus on it so I know it's clean!"

Anyone who knowingly uses a computer without antivirus software will do so with a healthy amount of skepticism. And they will be all the better for it.

Am I saying to stop using anti-virus software? No, not really. Use it if you want. Do you need anti-virus software? No, of course you don't. But it can be a useful supplement to your security. Anti-virus is not a substitute for making good decisions about where you get your software and how you use it. I am saying that if you implicitly trust anti-virus software to protect your computers then you are selling yourself short.

Stop using poorly written software and start using common sense.

A good starting point is to order free copies of Ubuntu Linux for you, your family and friends.

Linux Wifi

2006-02-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

I finally bought a new wifi card for my laptop. I needed one that would work with the Ubuntu Linux operating system, obviously. I did not want a card that relied on Windows XP drivers because the Windows drivers only offer limited features. For example, Windows XP wifi drivers can't automatically discover nearby access points by themselves. So I found some information at tuxmobil.org which suggested most Atheros-based wifi cards work perfectly with Linux systems. While browsing the aisles at Best Buy I noticed that the Atheros-based wifi cards prominently state "Atheros" on the box in a huge logo.

I purchased a Netgear WG511T. I inserted the card, installed NetworkManager and ran "nm-applet" which, as you can see to the right, added a handy signal meter and wifi network list to my my menu bar. Very cool. It conveniently stores the wifi network keys in my keyring along with all of my other system passwords. If I plug in an Ethernet cable it automatically switches to the "Wired Network" and disables wifi.

ARP Cache Poisoning [del.icio.us]

2006-03-07T12:53:20-06:00

Pandora™- Music You'll Love indeed...

2006-01-22T05:31:00.000-05:00

Pandora™ is a free music service that learns what type of music you like. You tell it a few songs or artists you like and begins playing similar songs. Specifying about a dozen song titles, rather than artists, allows you to narrow the music selection really well. To refine it to your tastes you can rate each song you like with a thumbs up and songs you don't like with a thumbs down. After about an hour of learning it does a spectacular job of choosing music you'll like.

You can also share your taste in music with others. For example, I've created Augur Radio on Pandora. Have a listen...if you dare.

If you're using the Mozilla Firefox web browser then drag this Pandora™ Mini link to your toolbar to create a button that will popup the Pandora player in a small floating window.

NoviiMedia / Palm OS Solutions / NoviiRemote Blaster for Treo 650 - Turn Your Mobile Device into a Universal Remote Control [del.icio.us]

2005-12-22T01:51:59-06:00

Functioning Form - Web Application Form Design Expanded [del.icio.us]

2005-12-11T13:32:44-06:00

LukeW: Web Application Form Design [del.icio.us]

2005-12-11T13:32:23-06:00

Augur's Ramblings - Web Augur [del.icio.us]

2005-12-05T00:55:45-06:00

Information Technology, Computers, Linux

Gateway HD Computer Monitor

2005-12-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

The new Gateway FPD2185W is a really nice 21" widescreen (16:10 ratio) high definition HDTV/computer monitor with a retail price of $599.99. It allows one to connect up to 5 video sources at once and switch between them; it has one each of DVI/HDCP, VGA, Component Video (YCbCr/YPbPr), Composite RCA, and S-Video ports. The monitor allows picture in picture between any two of the ports.

I quickly discovered one important thing about this monitor. You really need to have a video card that supports the monitor's native 1680x1050 resolution or one of the other resolutions listed in the manual (1680x1050, 1440x900, 1152x864, etc). Something like a cheap nVidia GeForce4 MX400 works fine. The monitor seems to automatically scale the image to fit the screen. At lower resolutions the auto-scaling in the monitor causes irritating color bleeding and smudging of the picture. Interestingly, I've noticed that my HDTV box runs the monitor at 1920x540 at 60 Hz (with the 1080i HDTV setting).

The monitor also has proprietary Windows-only software which claims to rotate the desktop when the monitor is rotated from landscape into the portrait configuration. It would be really nice if one could read the rotation sensor and do the same on Linux using xrandr (X resize and rotate). I was unable to find any sensors listed on the USB port. So maybe the signal is sent down the cable via the DDC line? I haven't a clue.

The monitor even supports the insane, pointless, trivially defeatable, extraordinarily inconvenient, and surprisingly expensive HDCP copy-prevention specification required by certain high definition video equipment and future PCs that will be running Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.

Security Threats on Sony Music CDs

2005-11-14T04:11:00.000-05:00

It turns out that for the last year or so Sony-BMG has been shipping
rather dangerous Windows software on many of its music CDs. When the
music CD is inserted into a Windows PC it displays a message informing
you that it wants to install a music player so you can listen to this
wonderfully exciting new form of music CD. And if accepted it installs
a "rootkit" which secretly hijacks some parts of Windows without
informing you.

Firstly, the automatic installation of this Sony software can be avoided
to some extent by disabling auto-run:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-018

Some less technical information on the Sony rootkit from CNet:
http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033_1-6376177.html

EFF's growing list of CDs known to contain the rootkit:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004144.php

EFF breakdown of the legal restrictions Sony imposes on people who
choose to install this software by agreeing to the EULA license:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004145.php

NPR Audio with clips from SysInternals (who discovered the threat) and
Sony BMG President. There is a lovely audio clip of Sony-BMG president
saying that rootkits aren't a threat to anyone because, get this, and I
quote, "most people don't even know what a rootkit is":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4989260

What the Sony rootkit does

Installs a windows kernel patch that allows arbitrary files to be hidden even from Windows itself.
Replaces the CD drivers with ones that prevents listening to or copying audio CDs. Any program which attempts to access the protected music CD is immediately terminated without prompting or authorization. It maintains an internal list of programs which are commonly used to copy CDs.
Installs a music player program which is allowed to listen to the audio CD and make up to three MP3 files from tracks on the CD. It also allows Windows Media 9 to generate encrypted music files for use with Sony, and a few other, encrypted portable music players.
The music player, somewhat covertly, sends a transmission back to Sony-owned servers each time a a music CD is inserted requesting album art for that specific CD.

Why this is bad and may even be illegal

Sony doesn't explain what the software they install is doing to Windows. In many countries it is a serious crime to modify a computer system without the full consent of the owner. That means fully disclosing to the owner what will be done to the computer system. Instead, the EULA basically states that Sony can do anything they want to your computer and you need to install the software in order to listen to this perfectly normal audio CD. Which simply isn't true. The CD plays fine until after their software is installed. That aside, it isn't within Sony's legal rights to prevent you from listening or in any way using a music CD that you have legally purchased. But it may be within their rights if you were to agree to their EULA license because that may be a binding contract.
The rootkit's kernel patch hides files with names beginning in $sys$. Viruses have already incorporated the Sony rootkit into them. The rootkit makes it impossible for anything to even detect let alone remove a virus using Sony's rootkit. Virus scanners are totally useless against any virus incorporating this technology.
The software installed by the CD is invisible and there's no way to uninstall it. Attempting to do so will damage Windows. Sony's recently announced uninstall procedure is almost impossible to complete and possibly dangerous to even attempt. Some virus scanners (F-Secure, Symantec, Microsoft, et al) are issuing updates which supposedly detect and safely remove the rootkit. In the case of Microsoft, and probably some others, it appears that they may have to rewrite parts of their virus scanners to accomplish this. (ie. This scenario wasn't anticipated by most existing virus scanners.)
The rootkit intercepts low level Windows kernel functions. Unlike the original kernel functions it does not validate any information being passed to it. Therefore, it is extremely easy to cause windows to crash with a blue screen. Meaning, it makes Windows infinitely more fragile than it normally is... Normally, the Windows NT kernel protects the system from crashing but the Sony rootkit is poorly written and bypasses Windows' built-in protections.
Removing the kernel patch itself using normal means either makes Windows totally unable to boot or corrupts the CD-ROM driver so the drive doesn't work any longer.
The music player software appears to incorporate the LAME MP3 encoder in some way. In any case, there's strong evidence to suggest it is built into at least some versions go.exe on the CD. The LAME software is licensed under the LGPL license. If that is true then Sony is not fulfilling the LGPL license requirements in any way. Therefore, they may be violating numerous other people's copyrights in order to supposedly enforce their own copyright. And in doing so they would be breaking federal law in many countries including the US.

Long, technical details (listed in cronological order)

Alternatives

And the obligatory note that Linux, Macintosh, and other UNIX systems
aren't subject to this sort of insanity because of a very long list of
reasons based on decades of experience and sound judgment on the part of
their respective developers. And, also a note that ordering a stack of
Ubuntu Linux CDs costs precisely $0, postage is even free:
Order free Ubuntu Linux CDs:
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
Ubuntu Linux:
http://ubuntu.com/

Steel dolphin Creative - Color Scheme tool [del.icio.us]

2005-11-20T12:37:40-06:00

Steadman [del.icio.us]

2005-11-20T03:51:58-06:00

USB in a NutShell - Chapter 1 - Introduction [del.icio.us]

2005-11-18T21:41:08-06:00

Spark Fun Electronics [del.icio.us]

2005-11-18T21:29:58-06:00

Posture!

2005-11-12T02:26:00.000-05:00

So, it's 4:30 in the morning and I'm wide awake listening to Radio Paradise. Great music. Dreadful hour. My back hurts. My brain is fried. All is not lost for I have chocolate.

Ya know, I've never really liked keyboard shelves under the desk. But I'm beginning to think that the cause of my back pain has been from leaning to type. This started about the time I replaced my desk. (And nearly killed myself crawling around on the floor running wires behind the desk.) Bad posture may be aggravating things since I spend like 16 hours a day typing. So, yesterday I installed the keyboard shelf that came with my desk. I think it has made a big difference. Still some aching but nothing like it has been. And it seems to be slowly improving. I guess I'll know after a few days.

Visitors

In other news, I was visited briefly by a very pregnant Mantis:

Shapeshifting Forms

I keep running into major annoyances when writing complex web forms. The appearance is always ugly and varies wildly based on browser and operating system. It's a real problem in situations where you need the form to look precisely one way no matter how it is viewed. So, I've been contemplating writing a comprehensive javascript class which allows you to customize a form so it looks consistent across all operating systems and browsers.

Most importantly, this wouldn't require any changes to the way you create a form. You could take an existing form and simply attach the class initializer to the window.onload event. The form is created using perfectly normal HTML. The class rewrites the appearance of the form using javascript to manipulate CSS and HTML. There are numerous disconnected examples of this already. I modified an existing example of a form select for my proof of concept HTML form themes. It's really pretty ugly at the moment. But it's given me some confidence that a class library is feasible.

Less importantly, HTML forms look horrible on paper. So I'd also like to have a print function which takes the editable form from the web page, reformats it and makes a nice printed document. This is something that comes up more often than you'd think. Often people will print a form just before they submit it so they have their own record.

OpenSolaris + Ubuntu = Nexenta

2005-11-06T16:49:00.000-05:00

For years I've always bought the latest Sun Solaris operating system release hoping it would be better than the last. It doesn't even seem to gradually get better. It seems like every improvement they make is offset by some other part which has become worse.

So, they finally decided to infuse some new blood into the system by releasing most of the system, as OpenSolaris, under their CDDL open source license. CDDL is not exactly a very good open source license, mind you. But does qualify as open source nonetheless. I can assure you that I won't be abandoning my Linux systems for OpenSolaris. But I am very glad to see Solaris finally being improved in a way that makes sense.

Aside from the OpenSolaris project itself there is a recent spin-off called Nexenta. Nexenta seems to me to be the perfect solution to the problems with Solaris. Nexenta is based on Ubuntu Linux but they have replaced the Linux kernel with the OpenSolaris kernel. Ubuntu Linux is derived from the Debian Universal Operating System. Debian is based on the GNU system. Debian doesn't mandate any specific kernel or applications although it currently favors Linux. Instead Debian is built around the idea of alternatives. You can swap out components to fit your business or personal needs around this basic GNU system. As such, Debian currently provides Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and GNU Hurd kernels and roughly 18,000 applications to run on them. If Nexenta succeeds then Debian would provide a fully functional OpenSolaris kernel in a future release. Nexenta has simply built packages for the OpenSolaris kernel and system utilities which integrate into the Debian OS.

I think that Sun should take a long hard look at what Nexenta is doing and strongly consider pursuing a similar course. Debian truly is the way forward. Debian provides a rock upon which all other operating systems can be built.

This is idea of building a GNU system on top of Solaris is nothing new, really. Indeed, before Linux, much of GNU itself was built on SunOS and Solaris. But now the whole process can be legal and formalized into outside projects. Since the late 1980s nearly everyone who purchased a Sun system would go through a several day long ritual of augmenting/replacing the Sun software with GNU software. To the extent that Sun eventually started including much of GNU on companion CDs. Many of the GNU utilities are superior to Sun's own software. Sun has areas where they excel. However, they are but a few people in a vast sea of developers working on this sort of software. Most of the Solaris applications have become outdated as they focused on niche areas. Meanwhile, the rest of the world has continued developing, refining and often replacing those applications with better versions.

Sun has promised great things by moving their desktop away from CDE (Common Desktop Environment) on to the newer GNOME. Solaris 10 included GNOME as its default work environment. Or, at least enough of GNOME to make you scream, "What were they thinking when they did this!" Sun neglected to port many important features from CDE to GNOME. Worse, GNOME on Solaris 10 had nearly all of the good GNOME software replaced with lousy Sun Java software that barely even functioned at all. You might wait several minutes for a simple note pad or calculator to load as all of the Java infrastructure bootstrapped itself behind the scenes. The reason they did this, I've heard them claim, is to delay porting those programs to Solaris and/or their SPARC CPU. They wanted to get the infrastructure correct before they attempted to port the applications.

But I think that misses the point. They shouldn't have to port thousands of applications to Solaris. Nearly all of these applications are written according to POSIX, Single UNIX Specification, and Linux Standard Base. These are ISO standards, like it or not. Solaris should be changed to support those standards and then all of the applications will work mostly unmodified. You might need little tweaks here or there. And if those are common tweaks across many applications then a library can be built to abstract the differences.

And this is exactly the sort of environment Debian provides. The net result is that, with few exceptions, you can run the same program from the same Debian package on any system regardless of which kernel is in use. There is no porting required at all because all of the various kernels have binary-compatible programming interfaces. In effect one program runs everywhere.

I do wish Sun could find some way to release Solaris under the GPL license but perhaps that will come with time. It's not as simple as one might think to release something under GPL. They probably don't even have sufficient legal rights to the code to make that leap. However, perhaps with time, problematic code can be replaced. Maybe it never will. Getting the ideas behind the code out into the public mind is a great start.

Sun Grid Utility Aimed at MS Word Docs [del.icio.us]

2005-11-02T01:57:39-06:00

10 Seconds Guide to Bash Shell Scripting [del.icio.us]

2005-10-31T20:44:20-06:00

Hoosier Outsider [del.icio.us]

2005-10-29T16:40:27-05:00

DIY Planner Hipster PDA Edition [del.icio.us]

2005-10-26T11:01:55-05:00

Moleskine Pocket Ruled Notebook, MoleskineUS [del.icio.us]

2005-10-26T10:57:50-05:00

Flock [del.icio.us]

2005-10-23T12:00:21-05:00

Avoid Illegally copied software

2005-10-14T01:09:00.000-05:00

New York Times Q&A brings up a good question. How do I know if I'm buying an illegal copy of Microsoft Windows with my new computer? (A pirated copy as some monopolists like to call it.)

Well, to be sure there are no pirates (or other vermin) inside your computer I'd suggest that the very first thing you do is to remove Microsoft Windows from the computer. Instead there are a number of Free Software operating systems available such as those based on GNU and Linux. In fact, you can download Ubuntu Linux at no charge. And Ubuntu Ship-It will even mail you complimentary CDs at no charge and they even pay the postage. Seriously, this isn't a trick. Once you have Ubuntu installed you have access to over 17,000 Linux applications at no charge. No ads, no gimmicks, no hassle, nothing but software.

But if you decide that you want to place yourself at the mercy of a twice-convicted monopolist then you can use their convenient Windows Genuine Advantage to turn yourself in...err, I mean validate your copy of Microsoft Windows.

MIME Encapsulation of Aggregate Documents, such as HTML (MHTML) [del.icio.us]

2005-10-11T22:46:50-05:00

TurboGears: Front-to-Back Web Development [del.icio.us]

2005-10-10T18:28:12-05:00

Ham Radio "Go Kit" - Los Angeles County Disaster Communications Service [del.icio.us]

2005-10-09T15:45:27-05:00

What you won't learn in highschool...

2005-10-04T23:49:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been just over 10 years since I graduated from highschool... What have I learned in those 10 years? Well, I'm sure more than I even realize. And I've forgotten at least as much as I've learned.

In highschool they badger you about grades, attendence, your appearance, your attitude, and so on. All are important things, of course. Sometimes they get sidetracked trying to convince you of other crazy stuff that doesn't matter. But they often forget to talk to you about why you are there in the first place.

Why do you go to highschool? Well, I've always believed that you go to highschool to learn how to survive after highschool. All schooling before highschool is truly irrelevant to life. It's a good knowlege base upon which to build and it's certainly important. But it won't help you survive in the real world. Survival in the real world seems to be the one thing the schools, as a whole, fail to teach. In highschool I'd often see teachers reprimanded for offering, what I realize now was good, advice to students. Often a student will get lucky and one or two teachers manage to do the job that the whole school system failed to do up to that point.

Things they probably won't bother to tell you in highschool:

Your algebra teacher who's also the basketball coach doesn't even know algebra.
Your highschool grades don't matter after highschool.
Take as many industrial arts and hands-on classes as possible. The practical knowlege you gain from these classes will make you truly stand out in ways you can't even comprehend until you're older.
Take a class where you have to fix problems. I took a 4-year electronics course in highschool. The most important thing I learned in those 4 years was how to divide and conquer complex problems and make them into a collection of simple problems. Once it becomes second nature it offers truly remarkable insights other people can't have. You can solve any problem 100 times faster than the average person.
Take business classes if they are available.
If you don't graduate you'll never get a real job. That diploma means you won't starve to death in 10 years.
Even if you do graduate you're never going to make more than about $25,000/yr (unless maybe you're some weird freakazoid genius). You might edge your way up to $30,000 by 40. (Bearing in mind, with inflation that means you'll probably still be starving.)
Go to college. Any college. Take some math, science, and business courses. You have to. Immediately after highschool. Don't wait. Don't assume you can work really hard and save money up for school later. You won't. Apply for all the financial aid you can right after highschool. Even if you don't get a degree it will erase the 4 years in highschool you wasted not learning algebra and such. You'll easily make $35,000/yr in a couple years. You may yet starve but you've probably postponed it a while.
Don't get suckered into some non-accredited "technical school" that promises you a good job. Go to a real college of some sort. Technical schools arenothing more than a recruiting center for employers. Those schools exist for the benefit of employers rather than the students. Sure, they'll show you figures like "90% job placement" but what they fail to tell you is that 90% of those job placements lose their job after their probationary employment period expires. If you go to a real collegereal jobs will be available when you're ready.
Learn to write computer software and fully utilize basic technology. Don't just learn to use some program. Learn to make your own programs. Especially, if you aren't studying technology. A business major who understands technology is worth a fortune, for example.
Take some basic computer science courses in college. Learn how computers and technology works.
Always believe you can do anything if you put your full effort into it. If you start thinking you can't do something then you've already failed.
Be the best at exactly one thing. Pick something profitable and learn everything about it.
Be great at many things. Strive to be a Renaissance man (or renaissance person for the politically correct whiners)
Don't memorize information. Your memory will fail you. Instead memorize how to find information. You'll find that sometimes you remember things anyway. But you should always verify your memory. Having an instinct where to find the correct answer will keep you from wasting away years of your life asking other people questions with obvious answers.
Lastly, and this is the most important thing you'll ever do... Write down in a notebook (or preferably a computerized equivalent) every single thing you learn or do or problem you solve. Write it down in a way that you'll never lose in your entire lifetime. I use a simple text file on my computer. For the last 10 years I've religiously kept notes on everything I know in a single text file. And I can't stress just how vital this has been. A simple notebook will allow you to remember everything forever. And that's truly empowering.

Now, go find other people with advice about what to do during and after highschool. I may be wrong. I may be nuts. Who knows. But in the end you'll be better off if you start thinking about it sooner rather than later.

PNG Behavior (WebFX) [del.icio.us]

2005-10-04T15:41:12-05:00

Turn your world LDAP-tastic [del.icio.us]

2005-09-26T20:58:24-05:00

US Amateur Radio HF Band Allocation Chart

2005-09-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

Last year I started work on an US Amateur Radio HF band allocation chart (say that ten times fast). I've always liked the Icom charts but I wanted something less cluttered and smaller. I looked around for any existing chart that was on 8x11 inch paper and showed only a single license class per page. To my surprise I didn't find one. So I created my own. I only made an Extra class chart because that's what I needed at the time. I encourage others to take my chart and adapt it as needed for other countries and license classes. Let me know if you do and I'll link to them from here. Please remember to make your modified Scribus files available so others can do the same!

If you would like to edit my band chart then you'll need the Scribus desktop publishing application (Linux or MacOS X).

Band Plan as printable PDF Document (676 KiB)
Band Plan as editable Scribus Document (311KiB)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.