I like supporting Irish websites, so I tend to use url.ie for links. the algorithm for generating the link seems to be sequential, so I was happy yesterday when my link for the perfect coffee went to http://url.ie/pdc, or as Dale Cooper would (hopefully) say - perfect damn coffee.
Recently in Notes Category
Aargh! google chrome comes with it's own 'updater' which runs in the background checking for updates to the browser (along with the updater for google gears, I presume).
Add in the Java updater (oh, lets check once a month for updates but run 24-7)
The apple software updater
Liveupdate (probably 3)
Each of them is probably doing the same thing.
Ok. Time fricking out here people! There has got to be a better way. If only there was a single update mechanism that all these tools could use... Unfortunately, it's the built in update mechanism from Microsoft/Apple and it's closed to outside developers
As it is, most applications on the Mac perform an automated check for updates when they're launched. It's relatively painless, and works most of the time. Mind you the notification dialogs leave a lot to be desired (version n+1 is available, download here!) as opposed to a list of version n+1 changes - especially security updates.
Hopefully, they're secure and have built in mechanisms to make sure that they're not taking in a corrupted/malicious application.
Add in the Java updater (oh, lets check once a month for updates but run 24-7)
The apple software updater
Liveupdate (probably 3)
Each of them is probably doing the same thing.
- Wait until some time on the clock
- Check for a network connection
- Check if there's new code to download
- Display an obnoxious dialog saying 'Update available' with an Ok or possibly Maybe next time pair of buttons
- Download the update
- Install the update
- Require a reboot because it's changing a file that's in use
- repeat until you head explodes
Ok. Time fricking out here people! There has got to be a better way. If only there was a single update mechanism that all these tools could use... Unfortunately, it's the built in update mechanism from Microsoft/Apple and it's closed to outside developers
As it is, most applications on the Mac perform an automated check for updates when they're launched. It's relatively painless, and works most of the time. Mind you the notification dialogs leave a lot to be desired (version n+1 is available, download here!) as opposed to a list of version n+1 changes - especially security updates.
Hopefully, they're secure and have built in mechanisms to make sure that they're not taking in a corrupted/malicious application.
It was something brought up by Joanna Rutkowska that her original pagefile attack on Vista was now stalled because Microsoft removed the ability of administrative users to perform write operations on the physical disk. So what happens to all those developers of undelete utilities (use a second disk?).
Firstly, lets look at the attack in more detail. What happens is that the kernel is forced to swap out pages of memory from drivers that are loaded in the kernel. These pages are swapped out to disk. I for one find this to be an incredibly stupid place to swap out the pages, as after all, until the kernel is completely done with a driver the original copy remains on disk.
Ok, maybe it had something to do with the new paging mentality of vista (you can page onto a usb memory device if it's fast enough).
Damn, I'm talking myself out of my own argument.
No, paging of code from binaries should revert to the on-disk copy unless they have made COW modifications to their segments (does windows do this?)
Firstly, lets look at the attack in more detail. What happens is that the kernel is forced to swap out pages of memory from drivers that are loaded in the kernel. These pages are swapped out to disk. I for one find this to be an incredibly stupid place to swap out the pages, as after all, until the kernel is completely done with a driver the original copy remains on disk.
Ok, maybe it had something to do with the new paging mentality of vista (you can page onto a usb memory device if it's fast enough).
Damn, I'm talking myself out of my own argument.
No, paging of code from binaries should revert to the on-disk copy unless they have made COW modifications to their segments (does windows do this?)
Forgive the poor speling and the poor grammar. Last night was young dermot's stag party. We spent the afternoon shooting things in Wicklow. I think the reverend should have been there, he would have probably beaten us all (embarassing, sonsidering that we are a bunch of computer gaming first person fools.
'Freak Show' is up for an Eagle Award. Rob is one of the two main people in Sub City, which is without doubt the best comic book store in Dublin.
Vote please!, make us proud.
Vote please!, make us proud.
The world's best quotes in 1-10 words.
Ok, looks like there's only one today.
Ok, looks like there's only one today.
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
What's in a file? If you're to believe Windows, a .doc file is a Word Document, a .xls is a spreadsheet, a .jpg is a jpeg file. The reality is in the business you will encounter a bunch of anonymous files. If you'fe fscked a file system or ran chkdsk /f you can end up with a bunch of unlabelled or labelled badly files. Identifying them is a bit tricky. Some people don't care, they just wipe the recovered files, but if you care, probably the first thing you want to do is figure out what file type they are.
For Unix and Linux we have the file command. This command determines what a file is based on the content of the file. How it does this is based on the contents of the /usr/share/file/magic file, which describes in simple means how we identify the file. It's not 100% accurate, and regularly makes a pigs ear out of identifying text files properly (curses and your free format), but it works most of the time for images, programs and most of your annoying microsoft files.
Convenience aside, most of the work on the file command is actually performed by the libmagic library. You, as an application developer can take advantage of this library to provide useful information about a file to the consumer.
Apple Macs (and PalmOS devices) have it easy. Each file carries along with it identifying marks of it's creator application and file type. This information is stored in the resource fork of the file, which for Macs can mean problems when transporting it from platform to platform. Self identification goes a long way though. As creator codes are registered with Apple, it means you generally avoid treading on other applications and co-opting their file types, as happens on windows all the time.
For Unix and Linux we have the file command. This command determines what a file is based on the content of the file. How it does this is based on the contents of the /usr/share/file/magic file, which describes in simple means how we identify the file. It's not 100% accurate, and regularly makes a pigs ear out of identifying text files properly (curses and your free format), but it works most of the time for images, programs and most of your annoying microsoft files.
Convenience aside, most of the work on the file command is actually performed by the libmagic library. You, as an application developer can take advantage of this library to provide useful information about a file to the consumer.
Apple Macs (and PalmOS devices) have it easy. Each file carries along with it identifying marks of it's creator application and file type. This information is stored in the resource fork of the file, which for Macs can mean problems when transporting it from platform to platform. Self identification goes a long way though. As creator codes are registered with Apple, it means you generally avoid treading on other applications and co-opting their file types, as happens on windows all the time.
This is something that has always interested me. Certain typefaces cause me to think of certain things, just like certain pieces of music and certain half-seen images. The typeface personals is a collection of personal ads/dates oriented on different type faces. It's quite a good description, and evokes some of the feeling that you get from looking at them. Then again, I know of at least one person who will think I'm talking a load of w**k.
All I have to say is that the fight between Helvetica and Arial is not over yet!
Straight apostrophes and quote marks did not exist in typefaces until the advent of digital type in the 1980s. It’s a computer thing, not a typographic thing.
All I have to say is that the fight between Helvetica and Arial is not over yet!
Straight apostrophes and quote marks did not exist in typefaces until the advent of digital type in the 1980s. It’s a computer thing, not a typographic thing.
[Listening to: Break On Through - The Doors - The Best Of The Doors (2:28)]
Looks like he's worried again. It's annoying, but these things do happen.
[Listening to: Ramende - Wes - Welenga (Universal Consciousness) (4:03)]
If anyone actually reads doonesbury (on slate now), they might remember a short segment about people gtting SUV tickets - ones that tell people that their car gives really sucky gas mileage, and burns a hole in the environment. Earth On Empty have created the tickets that you too can use in your neighborhood. that loophole needs to be closed. Strangely enough, the loophole has been there since the Clinton administration!
Today/Tomorrow my mother is getting a stent put in, which is a wire tube put in to keep the artery open after an angioplasty. Our family being the conversationalists that they are are keeping this a secret form one another. It's only by phoning people directly that we find out what's happening, my mom doesn't want to tell anyone that it's going on.
I've just been informed that this is just suspected, there is no absolute certainty about this as the doctor has not got back in touch with my mother yet. Sheesh! This is compounded by the fact that I'm in New York this week, and they are in Cork, Ireland.
I've just been informed that this is just suspected, there is no absolute certainty about this as the doctor has not got back in touch with my mother yet. Sheesh! This is compounded by the fact that I'm in New York this week, and they are in Cork, Ireland.
The Spriters Resource
Sprites from all our favourite 8 bit games :)
Wheee.... the holiday has started. I'm in the transfer lounge of Heathrow waiting to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur.
I so need this holiday.
P.
The really, really short answer is that you should not. The somewhat longer answer is that just because you are capable of building a bikeshed does not mean you should stop others from building one just because you do not like the color they plan to paint it. This is a metaphor indicating that you need not argue about every little feature just because you know enough to do so. Some people have commented that the amount of noise generated by a change is inversely proportional to the complexity of the change.
The longer and more complete answer is that after a very long argument about whether sleep(1) should take fractional second arguments, Poul-Henning Kamp < phk@FreeBSD.org> posted a long message entitled "A bike shed (any colour will do) on greener grass...''. The appropriate portions of that message are quoted below.
"What is it about this bike shed?'' Some of you have asked me.
It is a long story, or rather it is an old story, but it is quite short actually. C. Northcote Parkinson wrote a book in the early 1960s, called "Parkinson's Law'', which contains a lot of insight into the dynamics of management.
[snip a bit of commentary on the book]
In the specific example involving the bike shed, the other vital component is an atomic power-plant, I guess that illustrates the age of the book.
Parkinson shows how you can go into the board of directors and get approval for building a multi-million or even billion dollar atomic power plant, but if you want to build a bike shed you will be tangled up in endless discussions.
Parkinson explains that this is because an atomic plant is so vast, so expensive and so complicated that people cannot grasp it, and rather than try, they fall back on the assumption that somebody else checked all the details before it got this far. Richard P. Feynmann gives a couple of interesting, and very much to the point, examples relating to Los Alamos in his books.
A bike shed on the other hand. Anyone can build one of those over a weekend, and still have time to watch the game on TV. So no matter how well prepared, no matter how reasonable you are with your proposal, somebody will seize the chance to show that he is doing his job, that he is paying attention, that he is here.
In Denmark we call it "setting your fingerprint''. It is about personal pride and prestige, it is about being able to point somewhere and say "There! I did that.'' It is a strong trait in politicians, but present in most people given the chance. Just think about footsteps in wet cement.
--Poul-Henning Kamp < phk@FreeBSD.org> on freebsd-hackers, October 2, 1999
William Sloan Coffin - Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword Another article abut america's place in the world.
But for more interesting things there's the Squeezebox... and I want one. Of course as soon as I buy one it will be for sale really really cheap.
Dave commented about the Cluetrain Manifesto being available on mp3 format... I bought it in Boston a couple of years ago on CD and it's in my mp3 collection (under spoken word, along with my granfather's memoirs of the Irish Civil War, and the Irish War of Independence).
Crap; I am so bloody tired from yesterday. I was literally working until 3am so I'm having a lie-in.
Well, I just spent about 2 hours installing 3 Toshiba Portégé M100 laptops with the latest build of Solaris. Quite easy once I figured out that one of the network cables was a POS and was causing all the NFS traffice to fail. Video was a snap - configure the XF86 i810 driver. It recognized the network card immediately. The only thing is the sound. The drivers are at tools.de, which covers that.
Ok,
We have the X position:
- getMapXPos()
this is a fraction of the overall display:
(getMapXPos() / getMapWidth())
multiply by the width of the display.
Making sure to order them such that there is never a zero value
for the multiplication.
the high resolution support for the PalmOS5 is driving me nuts.
little new pieces of the API seem to appear every now and again that make older code stop working. The testing matrix looks like:
- pre palmos 3.5 device
- palmos 3.5 device
- grey
- color
- palmos 4 device
- grey
- color
- palmos 5 device (simulator)
- 320x320 resolution
- palmos 5.?? device (simulator)
- collapsible display, reorientable display
- 1, 1.5 and 2x resolution
- palmos 6 device (simulator)
- all the 5.?? matrix
The housemate's car was broken into last night ina lovely part of town
Lost the DSL router and the installation CDs
needs the Netopia CD again.
It looks like I've got the simulation routine back under control.
For a while there all I had was downgrades happening. Turns out that
there was a sign error in one of the conditional statements making it
always terminate.
I still need to implement the linear vs. random zone thing for low occupancy.
Bad randomness in the system.
Fix the repaint rate for the linux game (use an offscreen pixmap). It bites
at the moment when I fullscreen the game (slow, juddery).
I'm sitting at the trian station waiting for the dart home. It's been a long
day in the office. I arrived at just before 10am.
Things that happened today: I nearly fainted on the train coming into the
office. That cost me 1/2 an hour waiting for missing trains.
I got 2.6.3 working on my laptop. It just simply refused to boot. I forgot
to translate the modules.conf file into the modprobe.conf file. Aargh!
I've been getting it working under vmware too, I needed to build the vmhgfs
module. Rewrote the Makefile to be a 2.6 modules makefile. One fix in the
driver.c file (add a #define for NODEV) and it built and installed fine.
The only problem is that getting the interface status i.e. link up/down isn't
working so the ifup script wasn't assigning them IP addresses. A couple of
fixes to that (remove the link test) and it all worked perfectly. I should
probably fix the link test to work correctly, that way I can take the laptop
on the road again.
That's just about all the work related stuff I'm allowed to talk about the
rest is hush hush.
dear god, I can't believe I ever managed to live without the z shell. It
is just screams 'feeping creature'. The filename completion is simply scary
the globbing is something from god.
Moo!
For some reason the building of the overlay zones on rail wasn't working.
Turns out that the code was missing. This looks like a CVS dodginess thing
in relation to the date/times.
Fixed. Now on to the scrolling problem.
I still can't reproduce it dadblast it.
The river is missing at the top edge of the graph. I've obviously got an
off-by-one error that's doing this.
I fixed it in the CreateFullRiver routine by specifying
k >= 0, instead of k > 0
Transparency and GdkPixmaps.
Do I need to create a transparency mask for each of the map overlay types?
it seems as though I do.
I really enjoy hiding the 'alt' related hotkeys hints when unused. It just
does not seem to stick n my bloody laptop.
something is messing me around I think.
1. Toolbar has too many icons. Need to make this customizable or else
split the toolbar into multiple choices (possible, bit difficult).
Text is not at the correct bottom of the display, and is not horizontally
at the correct location either.
13.28 -
- Fixed the text.
Support is now coded in to deal with multi-resolution displays. It can
handle single, sony high resolution and palm OS 5 high resolution displays.
More work is needed for 1.5 resolution displays. I will examine what is
needed to get them to work today.
Having spent a long time rearranging the tiles, I've still not added in any
of the elements that are animated. It's simply too much like rasterbating
for my liking.
The first plan is to export the current 256 color tile set out to both the
4 color and the 2 color for the palm devices (which is really irritating).
The 256 color icons export without any effort, it's just that the other
ones need to be color-reduced to make sure that the look OK.
http://www.palmattitude.org/logiciels/liste_logiciels.php?id_type=3&titre=Logiciels%20du%20type%3A%20Hacks
http://www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/keyclickhack.shtml
Sitting on the sofa, tapping on the laptop putting documentation into the
game. Boy is it fun, as at the same time I'm watching the wonderful Kate &
Leopold. someone somewhere must be impugning my masculinity as a result of
this, but I really find it enjoyable.
I'm placing doxygen documentation into the application to make it easier to
navigate the source code. It is helping me keep up with the code.
The next objective is to improve the simulation so there is a better
relationship between the three primary zones. This will allow us to develop
the desire graphs.
Problems with the virtual key character mappings and buttons in the
Palm Simulator witht the virtual silk screen. They don't have a calculator
button, so we're in trouble with the 'Menu Popup' button being interpreted
as the Calclator Button.
The question is that under this system, when we're displaying the toolbar do
we need the extra build list popup?
Character list with 320x480 screen:
btn: 0 char: 00000110 - vchrKeyboardAlpha
btn: 1 char: 00000111 - vchrKeyboardNumeric
btn: 2 char: 00000108 - vchrLaunch
btn: 3 char: 00000105 - vchrMenu
btn: 4 char: 0000010A - vchrFind
Other Modes:
btn: 0 char: 00000110
btn: 1 char: 00000111
btn: 2 char: 00000108
btn: 3 char: 00000105
btn: 4 char: 0000010B - vchrCalc
btn: 5 char: 0000010A
The vchrMenu item is being interpreted (do'h)
Just to make it more fun, I got the palm SDK and it's got:
Double Density
btn: 0 char: 0000050D - undefined
btn: 1 char: 0000050E - ditto
btn: 2 char: 0000050F - ditto
btn: 3 char: 00000510 - ditto
btn: 4 char: 00000511 - ditto
btn: 5 char: 00000512 - ditto
on a Tungsten T3
Zire 71 helps here as it has:-
btn: 4 char: 00000108 - vchrLaunch
btn: 5 char: 00000105 - vchrFind
btn: 6 char: 0000010B - vchrCalc | (when set to go to calc)
btn: 7 char: 0000010A - vchrFind
Otherwise:
btn: 0 char: 00000110 - al
btn: 1 char: 00000111 - num
btn: 2 char: 00000500 - clock
btn: 3 char: 00000502 - bright
btn: 4 char: 00000108 Launch
btn: 5 char: 00000105 find
btn: 6 char: 0000010B calc (?)
btn: 7 char: 0000010A find
