8 Oct 2000 (updated 8 Oct 2000 at 11:22 UTC)
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Lots of stuff going on recently.
Group Calendaring
I've started the integration of the ACL Code into OpenFlock
itself. This is proving to be a pain in the ass, mostly
because it is a whole lot of busy work - changing a lot of
function calls into OOP method calls, changing argument
ordering that kind of thing. Some of the old code doesn't
apply anymore, so I've got to figure out a good way to
remove it without breaking anything - but that appears to be
a minor issue. With ALS coming up soon, I am bucking to get
the new release out before my talk. :-)
Baby Stuff
Babies are BAD for productivity. I'm lucky to get any work
done late at night after the wife and baby have gone to
sleep so I can get into "the zone". Anyone else work that
way? I just can't seem to get myself into a really
productive space unless I have at least 4 hours of
completely uninterrupted time, which sure as hell doesn't
happen at work! The most ironic part of it all is that I
can't get work done on OpenFlock (the group calendaring
system) because I'm constantly booked in meetings! You just
gotta laugh.
Melody is a pure delight, though. She's 8 months old now,
and it is so incredibly fascinating to watch her personality
continue to emerge, especially her sense of humor. I had
the chance to spend a lot of time with her today, and it was
a hell of a lot of fun.
Digital Cameras
Woo hoo! My Nikon
990 finally came in. It is a sweet camera. 3.34
Megapixels, and 2000x1534 pixel pictures by default. So
sharp! I was having lots of gimp fun tonight. Don't ask me
about the jerks who sold
me
the camera, though - classic bait-and-switch artists. Watch
out for them!!! After lots of calls, I finally got the
camera (the only thing they got right in my order). I think
AmEx is going to get a call from me regarding these guys.
Add to that mess the fight I had with Airborne Express to just
pick up the package after it arrived in San Francisco.
Suffice it to say that not only did Airborne promise me 3
times they'd have the package at my door (even when it was
late), they never followed through, and I had to go down to
their shipping dock and pick it up myself in order to
prevent further frustration.
*Sigh* Well, at least I have the camera now. I took some
shots today of Melody at the supermarket, you can see them
youself. Sorry Ryan, no PA
pictures... ;-)
Apmiser
I released the first production version of apmiser today, woo
hoo! apmiser is a tool for IBM Thinkpads that automatically
controls the APM power settings based on your usage
patterns. I often got pissed off at how slow the Thinkpads
were when running on power-save mode - IBM would slow the
CPU clock to 1/4 the rate of the full-speed CPU. This
significantly saved power, but the performance drop was
noticable. Whenever I wanted to do a compile, I would run
tpctl to switch the thinkpad into full-power state, and then
when I was done, I'd switch back into power-save state. This
worked for big compiles, but even then, it was time
consuming and sometimes I forgot to go back into
power-saving mode, which caused my batteries to run out
quickly. In addition, this didn't change performance when
doing short CPU intensive tasks, like sorting a mail folder,
or switching virtual desktops.
In response to this, I created apmiser, which is a little
daemon that regularly checks your CPU utilization. If you're
on battery power and it thinks that you're using the CPU, it
switches you into full-power state while you need the CPU,
and then it immediately switches you back into
power-savings mode when you're finished with the CPU. I've
found that apmiser significantly increases my productivity
when using my thinkpad on battery power.
There's more, too. Since most of the time people use
computers the CPU is idle, I've set up apmiser to help you
to recharge your batteries faster when you're plugged into
AC power. If you're plugged into AC power and your battery
charge state is less than 95%, then apmiser acts as if
you're running on battery power. Tests show that this speeds
up my battery recharge time by almost 25% over the IBM
default, which is to run the computer in a full-power state
all the time.
In a way, I guess you could call it software-based "code
morphing", sorta like what the folks over there are doing...
Heh.
Birthdays
Today is my Birthday, I'm 32 today. Happy birthday to me!