Older blog entries for mterry (starting at number 4)

xpad

I've hacked up a dashboard frontend for xpad. I'm pleased it was not too difficult, although I doubt that dashboard will be able to do very much with most pads' contents.

I have also decided that since I'm already numbering the next xpad version 2.0, I might as well go and break everything, just to keep the spirit of dot-zero releases. So, I've begun the long and unrewarding task of objectifying the codebase. That is, I am making nice, clean GObjects out of everything instead of one big pile of procedural code. Yay!

In the process of that, I have discovered how cool the whole GObject system is -- building OO design into such an antiquated language as C. It's a nice architecture.

xpad

Work on xpad has been going well. I've finished porting it to all the non-deprecated widgets in the upcoming GTK+ 2.4. Thus, the next release will require 2.4 instead of 2.0. I plan to number this next xpad release 2.0, since the base requirements have been bumped up in this manner. Just some bug fixes left to work on, and we're gold.

In other news, xpad recently got a French translation, thanks to Michel Robitaille. Yay!

23 Jan 2004 (updated 23 Jan 2004 at 18:47 UTC) »

Rhythmbox

The patch for adaptive listening got committed. Sweet!

Bounties

Having worked on a couple of the various open source bounties floating around, I feel qualified to comment on the phenonemon.

First, it's awesome. It connects people with money and a desire for a particular feature with the people that want money and can code particular features. So, I hope we see more of it.

Second, I think the bounty movement is good for programmers. Not merely for our wallets, but for our image. The stereotype of pizza-eating, coke-guzzling late-nighters is gone, transformed instead into the sexy image of a bounty hunter, risking life and limb for the pursuit of money.

"And what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a bounty hunter. Very dangerous."

You don't need to specify that you hunt slow-moving programming bounties. Let their imagination roam.

Rhythmbox

I've started hacking a patch to Rhythmbox that will add adaptive listening akin to the IMMS plugin for XMMS.

Adaptive listening means that a song's rating will decrease when it is skipped and increased when it is heard. When done right, it's pretty handy for automatically figuring out the user's tastes.

This is a feature I've wanted for a long time in a music player, and I'm glad I can have a part in its creation. Certainly beats rating all my songs myself. Plus, I'll wager it's more accurate than myself.

RSS

I've just now discovered the joys of RSS; I finally see why everyone else is so into it. I installed Straw and subscribed to all my usual haunts. A lot less manual labor is now required to keep abreast of news in open source land. I just wish certain sites would offer more details on each article.

OK. First attempt at any sort of blog.

On a lark, I signed up for a Jabber account (mterry@jabber.org) the other day. I must say that the idea of an open standard, decentralized, extensible IM protocol gets me excited. If it ever gains mainstream acceptance, I will be simultaneously shocked and pleased.

I've been looking into getting a personal domain name for all my self-promoting needs. It seems the .name tld is the place for this; I just wish I had a steady income to pay for hosting (note -- will code for food).

Here's an unethical, but money-saving idea: go to your local library, borrow several music CDs, and rip them. Genius! For your ripping pleasure, might I suggest Sound Juicer? I have been using it for a couple weeks and I must say I am impressed. The only problems I've had are MusicBrainz's database errors. Combined with Rhythmbox, I am in music-heaven.

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