Older blog entries for superant (starting at number 40)

I believe scripting is the only type of programming we should be doing. Because I would say that to completely embrace Free Software, we must always hand out the source with the executible. The only way to insure that is to always write in scripting languages.

Another angle on the same argument is at: Why Compilers are doomed

Well I could compile the abacus spreadsheet software under Debian 2.0 for the school in Zambia. She tells me how she is not looking forward to copying 9 diskettes to the new computer to get X running. She can't get the cdrom running under Linux. I wish I had a wordprocessor other than Wordperfect to give them. But that is the most advanced WP that will run under Debian 2.0.

uweo I know what you mean. Free Software development is a pain without reward. I tell myself that more people appreciate our work than we ever know about.

My Uncle died yesterday. It was expected, but it is always a surprise. I probably will not fly up to the Bay Area for the funeral. They will have a memorial here in the LA area also.

Am trying to help the Chengelo School in Zambia setup Linux on their small workstations. It sure is a breath of fresh air to find people without P4's and 1 gig of ram.

I hope I can find the wordprocessing and spreadsheet software they need for their students.

A lot of progress on LinuDent A tcl/tk/itcl project for dentists or as a general PIM. It is actually somewhat usable. And doesn't take more than a 2 meg download even for people who have no tcl/tk loaded.

Yesterday, went to the Los Angeles County Fair and saw the animals. Am doing all the things I shouldn't be doing. Hanging out in large crowds and flying on Thursday. I think we should honor the dead by living our lives normally. No fear - no stupidity.

In a strange way the bombings in NY and DC are a failure of the closed source method of information gathering. I suspect if an open source method of intellegence gathering was practiced, with hackers, crackers and spys all over the world contributing to an open database of terrorist threats, we would have known months ago about the plan to hijack and bomb the U.S.

A great deal of progress with LinuDent, using tcl/tk and tclkit. Do need some help with i18n. I need to find translations for

"You are running LinuDent version: "

"This is the current version as of: "

"You are configured to use the normal version"

"you are configured to use the beta version"

Needed Translations

Have released version 0.0.6 of LinuDent.

Saw Planet of the Apes. like it all except "shocking" ending. otherwise every well done.

Busy setting up installer for LinuDent. Using the tclish installer. Seems quite nice. I don't know how to i18 it though. Am just starting to add locale code into LinuDent. Now I need translaters and some producers of graphics.

Did not make it to the movies this weeek too busy. Still not finished with the edits for DrDobbs. Charlotte is out of town for a few days. I should get some coding done on LinuDent.

Lots of trouble with getting drugs for my mother. HMOs suck.

My isp has changed. I learned it would have been a great idea to backup all files on my web sites. Now instead I get the pleasure of recreating some scripts all over again. :-(

csm that was quite a moving diary on 13-june 2001.

My mother is very sick, so I know what it is like to have loved ones not be there.

Thanks jschauma for the translation of the FAQ.

Busy writing diarys and Wikifiing. (is that a word?)

Hey jarod if you happen to see this, could you consider translating the Small Linux FAQ into Brazilian? Small Linux FAQ

We already have a Danish version. Small Linux FAQ - Danish

I have been busy wikifying everything I can. SuperLinux Encyclopedia

The newest Dr Dobbs Linux pages are ready: DDJ Linux

Boy, have I been a busy little beaver:

Worked on superant.com site, experimenting with JavaScript and frames. Not online yet, but should get around my problems with ssl and certicates.

Started using pscp for secure copying to/from my websites from my win98 machine. Set up to use scp to grap my email from my ISP to my Linux home machine. I don't want to be compromised like Sourceforge was.

Set up usemod Wiki at: SuperLinux Encyclopedia

Made a silly little automated demo for: LinuDent

Almost finished with Linus' book. He has the best description I have seen of the human psychology of cult behavior. Humans are wired in their kernel to want to follow leaders.

On the work front, successfully installed ram, scsi hd and ups in the netware server. Now if I can just finish a simple database using perl, I will have earned by paycheck.

I have started reading Linus's book: Just For Fun. So far, I enjoy it, it's a light read, exactly the childhood and life you would expect of a computer nerd.

Action on the LinuDent front. My justification for using HTML and Javascript forms and cgi-bin backend, is to lower the bar of entry to testing the system to almost none existance. Everyone has a Javascript compatible browser and most people can install Apache in ten minutes. So the LinuDent package should be a small tar file that will have an install script that will install the cgi-bin files into /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ and the *.html files into /var/www/htdocs/

The first step of installation will be to put a inspector.cgi file into the cgi-bin directory. Then in the browser go to http://localhost/cgi-bin/inspector.cgi this will tell where the local files are for the purpose of telling the install script, where to put the files.

Two people in the last couple of days have offered to help with LinuDent That is very nice. Too bad sourceforge is acting up again. No shell access for the next couple of days.

The plan is now to code the front end in HTML and JavaScript and the backend with perl and cgi.