Caught the latest bond flick last night with Carmen. It was good. A little thin on depth, i think, since it was packed with plot.

On the bus ride home, Carmen and I were talking about how she liked that the new daniel craig incarnation relies less on cool gadgets and more on bad-assery. Our conversation then turned to the only dazzle gadget in the movie which was this touch screen interface that seems to be the IT tool of choice at MI6. It basically looks like they got ten or twelve flash monkeys in a room, loaded them up with red bull, and let them go crazy with spinning gears and gifs of scanned documents and pictures. It had a nice effect overall and it looked fairly believable to interact with.

There was this one scene in particular that caught my attention. Bond is spelling the name “greene” and the interface was trying to work its speech to text mojo, typing out the name as it’s being spelled. Being the tech-savvy secret agent, bond goes spelling be style: “greene. g-r-,” then. showing a flair of sophistication, he goes for the, “double-e,” then finishes with “n-e.” For some reason, i was paying close attention to the touchscreen as it put up the g and r and then, for a split second after the “double,” it throws up a “w,” and then after bond says, “e,” the screen erases the “w” and throws up “ee.”

cute, right? poor little touch screen getting jerked around by a snobby british dude and his quirky way of spelling things . . . apparently, i was the only one that noticed.

talking to the chuburys the other day, it occurred to me that my career will be turning ten years old in a few short months. I’m not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I feel a retrospective is in order. On the other, I feel like I’m too young to be thinking about a retro anything. I wish I had something more substantive to say about this mile marker.

I guess what I can say is that this past decade I’ve been incredibly lucky to have worked with some really wonderful people with whom I’ve formed enduring friendships, and for that I am very grateful.

So, thanks y’all!

Here’s to another ten. Cheers.

took the time to install (finally) the latest and greatest from the fedora crew, release 8. what are my impressions so far? not bad. I’m happy that the inevitable shit storm that is NetworkManager is not yet the default. I’m really worried about that thing for a couple reasons: 1) it doesn’t start network services until you log in, which leaves you ssh server, or any other server for that matter, sol. 2) you need to type in your damn password for the keyring manager before you can connect to any wifi networks. remind me again why everyone’s so crazy about this thing?

anyway, what was nice (sorta) was the network install that i did. just downloaded the 100MB rescue disc iso, popped it in and pointed it to the ftp servers on kernel.org and it did the rest. the install did take significantly longer, but oh well. better than having to go out and lay down some bucks for dvd media which seems to be the only way to get a full distro now.

other niceties: the games selection is ginormous. i spent 10 minutes browsing through those options. also, you can hook up to other yum repositories during the install process, so you can have livna right off the bat. also, gnome is actually (gulp) coming along nicely. there are all sorts of extra packages to install to make it more customizable. perhaps one day i’ll finally switch . . . one day.

some other cool candy includes a desktop background that changes shades with the time of day. compiz is supposed to work, but i haven’t been able to get it going, though. but who needs wobbly windows anyway?

one big shout out has to go to the new dejavu fonts. call me square but this shit is super easy to read. it might take up a bit more space, but i have to say i prefer it. haven’t even thought about installing the ms ttf fonts package.

one the downside, the new pulse audio system still isn’t widely supported enough. i can’t seem to get mplayer working with it. also, selinux is still on the shits. i find it hilarious how they keep trying with this thing. i have to give them credit. i mean the stock selinux rules prevent you from updating the stock selinux rules. it’s a cruel, cruel world. also, i’m suspect on how yum is working. it’s missed a couple packages that had updates available. hmmm . . ..

I took some time over the long weekend to hunker down and get familiar with YUI, and re-familiar with javascript. I’m a dork. I know. But, i have to admit it’s been a while since i sat down and did something educational for myself.

Anyway, something to note about YUI is that, while incredibly powerful, it’s terribly documented. I mean, do i pass an id string or a reference to the html element? the examples are a mix/blur of both usages. Also, for those using the animation stuff, opacity is a value between 0 and 1, not 0 and 100. and you might also have to use a “from” attribute. oh, and you might also have to pre-initialize the opacity to match your “from”.

you see, i really don’t know cause i ended up shotgunning it cause,well, i spent one day setting up all the webservices i needed for this little app i’m building, and then the next four days trying to figure out how to mofo fade a damn li in and out.

also, one thing i have yet to figure out is javascript blocking/sleeping/waiting. i have an array that i want to iterate through and append li elements in a ul. the problem is that i want to append these elements over x amount of time, maybe, i dunno, one per second. however, i can’t seem to figure out how to sleep in javascript. anyone?

#2) i can record hd content from my dvr via firewire
#3) I can buy shows on itunes and export it via dvi->hdmi to my tv.

That’s how i tried to kill a process yesterday. Why, you ask? I’ll give you one guess.

I am now at the point where i could really fuck something up if i can’t even kill a process correctly anymore. So, i’ve decided to take a new approach. Namely, firing up the thinkpad, putting fedora 7 on it and running with that at home. Sorry, macbook. i tried. If it’s any consolation, you can still play my quicktime trailers.

Any suggestions on how to make it work like a unix box/windowmaker are most welcome. This includes tips on X11 forwarding, sloppy focus, virtual desktops, and maybe some info on how the heck the filesystem is laid out.

in addition, if anyone knows a better music player than itunes, i’m all ears. I’m looking for something that has a light desktop footprint, doesn’t chew up gobs of memory, and has the ability to create a playlist, shufflie it, and the play the shuffled playlist in sequential order. thinki winamp/xmms for mac. any hints? i just tried itunes and for some stupid reason it has decided to copy all of my music into it’s special directory. why the hell it would do such a dumbass thing is beyond me, although from memory, i vaguely recall that if i tell it not to i can’t get all play history and rating stuff.

update: also could use some help with fixing the trackpad. it just doesn’t track properly. my finger feels like sysiphus. it moves all the way across the pad only to have to do it over and over again until it finally gets across the screen.

update 2: and why didn’t they put a full keypad on this thing? i mean, there’s plenty of space . . .

update 3: a bagillion thanks to selfish crab for his mac osx insights. Fink/FinkCommander seems to be the ticket. xmms is up and running now. they even have windowmaker! do i dare dream?

update 4: in case anyone was wondering, the macbook’s given name is havefight-lm.corp.yahoo.com

update 5: Virtual desktops are go! thanks to DekstopManager.

update 6: Virtual desktops aren’t as much of a go as i originally thought. it appears the ability to drag windows between desktops is not possible. boo.

update 7: what’s with the no date in the f-ing toolbar on top? how is that possible?

update 8: ah. found the fix for not date in the toolbar. hack.

update 9: what? “ctrl-delete” works like “^m-delete” in emacs while “delete” works like backspace. bitches. how can a brother get a delete going?

update 10: “ctrl-delete” can be achieved with “fn-ctrl-delete.” “delete” can be achieved with “fn-delete.” annoying.

update 11: apparently, all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.

update 12: i finally broke down and did an explicit emacs key binding. I just have to note that this is *not* an emacs problem. It’s a mac problem. they fucked up their keyboard from the start and have been too stubborn to fix it.

todo.txt. brilliant!

Qty Product Code Description Unit Cost Total Product Description Lenovo ThinkPad T60 2623 - Core Duo T2400 1.83 GHz - 14.1″ TFT Recommended Use Small business Dimensions (WxDxH) 12.4 in x 10 in x 1.2 in Weight 5.3 lbs Localization English / United States Platform Technology Intel Centrino Duo System Type Notebook Built-in Devices Stereo speakers, wireless LAN antenna, fingerprint reader, ThinkLight Processor Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83 GHz ( Dual-Core ) Cache Memory 2 MB - L2 cache RAM 512 MB (installed) / 3 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz - PC2-5300 Hard Drive 80 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm Optical Storage DVD¦RW (¦R DL) / DVD-RAM - plug-in module Display 14.1″ TFT active matrix SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) - 24-bit (16.7 million colors) Graphics Controller ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 - 64 MB Audio Output Sound card Telecom Fax / modem - CDC - 56 Kbps Networking Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g Wireless NIC Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Input Device Keyboard, TrackPoint, UltraNav Power AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz ) Battery Lithium ion Run Time (Up To) 3.9 hour(s) Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional Manufacturer Warranty 3 years warranty Product Description Lenovo ThinkPad memory - 512 MB - SO DIMM 200-pin - DDR II Storage Capacity 512 MB Technology DDR II SDRAM Form Factor SO DIMM 200-pin Memory Speed 667 MHz ( PC2-5300 )
Qty Product Code Description Unit Cost Total 1 CAFEE06 RECYCLE FEE FOR PRODUCT WITH 4 TO 14 INCH DISPLAY $6.00 $6.00

And minus the Microsoft Tax!!!!! Woooot!

I’m just getting to know my new fedora core 5. Some of the stuff is cool like laptop suspend works, and some of it is not so cool. Unfortunately, there’s more uncool than cool.

Backstory: I’ve never been a real fan of redhat. back when jlg sent me to get my RHCE, i wasn’t all that into it. You go in, you learn 30% linux and 70% redhat specific tools. It seems the trend is not reversing.

So, the first stumbling block was my clock dockapp. I’ve been using asclock since, well, since i’ve been using linux. asclock is nice. it’s simple. it no longer can be compiled in fedora core 5. why? because of this:

21.4.2. Imake

The imake utility is no longer used to build the X Window System, and is now officially deprecated. X11R7 includes imake, xmkmf, and other build utilities previously supplied by the X Window System. X.Org highly recommends, however, that people migrate from imake to use GNU autotools and pkg-config. Support for imake may be removed in a future X Window System release, so developers are strongly encouraged to transition away from it, and not use it for any new software projects.

and so, the just removed it. now, usually, you can go get a -compat rpm to get all that once was and is no longer. well, that’s no longer. it’s gone. gone for good. farewell, my time telling friend.

The next hurdle i stumbled upon was no more xscreensaver. now, honestly, i don’t really mind. I mean i was pissed when they ditched xlock. You went from typing ‘xlock’ to lock your screen to having to type ‘xscreensaver &’ to start the daemon and then you had to type ‘xscreensaver-command –lock’ to lock you screen. I mean, wtf? that sucks. so, no tear for xscreensaver. however, what did they move to, you ask?

The latest versions of GNOME Power Manager (http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnome-power-manager/) and GNOME Screensaver(http://live.gnome.org/GnomeScreensaver/) provide new and integrated power management capabilities.

excuse me? some people don’t want to run gnome, you insensitive clod!

This, of course, hits a soft spot with me. anything gnome hits a soft spot. why would anyone in their right mind want to be handicapped by this inferrior product that’s been designed by fools who have turned themselves over to ms windows ui programmer wannabes? everything they do is a rip of windows. heck, they even went retro windows 3.1 style with spacial nautilis. but, hey, let’s not go there.

Next up is something that was promising and now . . . sigh:

7.4. NetworkManager

Fedora systems use Network Manager to automatically detect, select, and configure wired and wireless network connections. Wireless network devices may require third-party software or manual configuration to activate after the installation process completes. For this reason, Fedora Core 5 provides Network Manager as an optional component.

Refer to http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Tools/NetworkManager for more information on how to install and enable Network Manager.

So it sounds great, right? except, the only interface into this thing is an icon in the gnome task bar. great. You insensitive clod! also, on a style note, every daemon since the beginning of time has used an all lower case nameing convention. WHY MUST YOU BREAK IT! . . . YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD! I mean, is it so hard to follow a naming convention?!?

I wish things stopped there. I really did . . . but read on my young companions, for we are soon to hit the creme de la creme:

7.7. No automatic fstab editing for removable media

The fstab-sync facility has been removed. In Fedora Core , the fstab-sync program is removed in favor of desktop specific solutions for mounting removable media. Entries for hotplug devices or inserted media are no longer automatically added to the /etc/fstab file. Command-line users may migrate to gnome-mount, which provides similar functionality.

are you f-ing kidding me? wait, let me read that again . . . are you f-ing kidding me?!? why? . . . wha . . . why?!? since when is mounting devices an excerise left to the window manager? The window manager?!? I mean integrating a browser rendering engine into your OS to display a graphical view of your filesystem make more sense than letting your window manager mount your filesystems. not only that, but i will be damned if i ever type the words ‘gnome’ and ‘mount’ on the same line.

So, that being said, any recommendations? I hear Ubuntu is all the rage these days. Don’t anyone say Gentoo. i don’t have time for that shit. on this box, i’d be compiling for days.