Older blog entries for kahlage (starting at number 5)

6:35pm GMT+7 ==

It's true! I needed an updated version of depmod. Now that the kernel is running correctly again, I'm going to see if I can get a Debian install to use the serial port on the laptop as a PPP connection to my LAN. I'm excited, but concerned. I don't know if Debian supports the kind of networking I need to do "from the Rescue disk"...

Work is proceeding nicely... I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked, but I was too worn out to continue intelligently. I feel more people should worry about this aspect of their lives. Don't be stupid. Don't underestimate your own ability to start doing stupid things. Some of the smartest people I know are the ones who merely know their own limitations.

Debian install is underway. I'll let the Advogato crowd know how it goes. Thanks for all the reassurances that these words actually do get read. It's cool to be a part of a community, even though that word has been over-used lately.

Pax Omnium Veritas--

7:11am GMT+7 --

Well, here I am at work on a Saturday. With any luck this new machine will be bugfree(tm) by the end of the day. It's an agressive schedule, but if I can pull it off I get the Thanksgiving holiday weekend off. (Go team!)

I've read the Laplink-HOWTO and started working on getting my new-to-me laptop on my home network. If I can do that, I'll install the rest of Debian off the Internet and have a shweet dev environment for my business trips.

I've noticed a problem: Recompiling my kernel to use modules (I had a monolithic kernel before -- ask and I'll tell you why), the make modules_install step didn't work. It looks like there's a command line switch being passed to depmod that it doesn't understand.

Details:
• depmod -V tells me depmod 2.1.121
• kernel rev is 2.4.0-test10
• suspicious commandline option: -F System.map

Where can I find a later version of depmod? This kernel boots, but I get all kinds of errors during startup about /lib/modules/2.4.0- test10/modules.dep being empty...

I guess this is when I figure out if anyone but me reads these diary entries. Feel free to mail me about this one. I'm stumped.

9:11pm GMT+7 --

Work is done, and I've had the chance to hack on the ANSI C binding of libvrml97. This will be a straight-C interface for the original library. We shall see if it pans out. The original lib is in C++, and that's not my strongest suit...

I've got another application that's waiting in the wings for some attention, but I've got to get the development tools on my laptop so I can work on it. I just don't have the time to sit at home and code anymore.

Sleep now. Eyes closing. Warm bed. Too many 12-hour days teaching epileptic robots how to pick up boxes...

More later--

5:34am GMT+7 --

Well, I got called out to work this morning and here I am. I'm glad the Advogato interface is an HTML form instead of something I'd have to run from a Linux box. I'm in Win98 right now... I'd rather be sleeping. I'm waiting for our customer to call back and tell me what's wrong with his robot.

For some reason, one of their user screens went away (probably minimized), and they decided to reboot the system. We use QNX for realtime control, so they didn't need to do that... Like I said, now I wait for the callback. This sucks.

I haven't had any chance to look at my open sourced / free software projects since my last entry. Hell, I haven't been able to check my email at home, much less devote time to programming. I need a different job. Automation is cool; dealing with the customers of an automation company is not. They expect not to have to think after getting a piece of automation. This is terribly backwards. Robots do physical labor. THEY DON'T THINK!

8:47pm GMT+7 --

Well, after reading the Apache dox I've got a good idea howthe system will work. The new mime parser will break out into several functions, the first of which (already written) is:

parseNetscapeMimeTypes(mime_list *list, char *victim)

And the insanity will continue with functions like:

parseApacheMimeTypes(mime_list *list, char *victim)

parseXSwallowMimeTypes(mime_list *list, char *victim)

Does anyone know where the Plugger config files live? I don't use Plugger all that much, but it would be nice to get all these different types of programs' behavior bound to 3dfile...

My Brother-in-Reality's-Clutches Kevin came to town this weekend for a visit. It was great, except for the fact that I had to work over the weekend. I got Debian put on the new-to-me loaner laptop from Chris. (Thanks, dude!) I'm still waiting for a CDRom drive to fall out of the sky into it's case, though. All the Debian base install can do is boot and write files. In 'vi'.

There is no greater waste of time than vi. I'm sorry to dissapoint, but I'm definitely an GNU Emacs Man... None of that sissy XEmacs stuff, either. I run GNU Emacs from within an xterm while I'm graphically empowered.

Questions? Comments? Flames? Just send me email...

11:11pm GMT+7 --

Began looking at the mime-op parser I wrote for 3dfile, and realized it only works on Netscape's mime.types and mailcap files! I'll have to get the Apache dox together for parsing generic mime.types and mailcap entries...

DOH!!