Inside, it's warm and dimly lit. There is no crowd today but the place isn't empty either. The baristas are chattering between themselves while they wait for new customers to arrive. Today, both the coffee and the atmosphere are cozy. In the corner by the window...
[Read More ]
January 05, 2005
Dispair
Over Christmas break I spent some time talking to my Dad's boss Harvard - all in all a cool guy. I wanted to see what he thought about distributed systems among other things...
[Read More ]
January 09, 2005
Slowing me down
I'm still battling my laptop's issues. Periodically it won't start, and when it does start it freezes from time to time. I thought I had narrowed the problem down to the connection with the fan, but I was wrong. Before...
[Read More ]
January 10, 2005
My new laptop is in, time to get back to work
When my Apple originally arrived it came with a screen defect. I called Apple wanting to return it, but they refused and suggested that I take it to an Apple Affiliated tech shop - which I did. They said "it's brand new, so we'll send it to Apple...
[Read More ]
January 11, 2005
The pixel is back
I spoke too soon, the dead pixel is back. I started QuickTime and boom, the dead pixel jumps out against the black background. But I think I can learn to tolerate it since it appears to be a software issue related to QuickTime...
[Read More ]
January 12, 2005
And today the pixel is gone
Today there is no dead pixel in the middle of my screen, so this is definitely a software issue relating to either quick time or to the full screen openGL driver.
January 13, 2005
Passion, Tao, and where I'm going.
Frankly, I'm 27 and I don't know exactly what I want to do with my life. For the last 2-3 years I've been pursuing a career in academia. This winter I used my winter break for soul searching. By that I mean trying to figure out what I'm doing here...
[Read More ]
January 16, 2005
My new favorite mini Linux distribution.
Trustix Linux is a small command line only linux. The installer looks like Red Hats circa 5.x. This distro is great for running Linux on a Virtual PC like I do - where running either KDE or Gnome grinds the machine to a halt. It supports the dvorak keyboard layout. It uses RPMs...
[Read More ]
January 17, 2005
Working on Package distribution.
I finally read through the Mozilla C++ Portability rules. Some of them are interesting.In other news, I'm working on making my thesis project more readily installable for users. Personally, I think it is several steps shy of being ready for installation by users...
[Read More ]
January 19, 2005
Virtual PC CD-Capture Feature is the best
Lately for testing and development I've been installing, and reinstalling, several OS's. I've found the fastest and most convenient way of doing this is directly from a downloaded ISO image. VPC lets you "Capture CD Image", select the ISO that you want...
[Read More ]
January 20, 2005
iWork repeatedly asks for Serial Number
Problem: iWork '05 asks for the Serial Number every time it is opened.Solution: Login as the Admin account, open the application and enter the serial #.
January 21, 2005
Convert a DMG file to ISO.
Here is a nice tip from an unlikely source on how to convert a disk image (DMG) to an ISO.hdiutil convert /path/to/bootableosx.dmg -format UDTO -o /path/to/output.isoOf course you can do this from the disk utility tool also... Macintosh seems to refer to ISOs as CDRs...
[Read More ]
January 22, 2005
Setting up a test bed - virtually
I finally managed to work through the installs for three SuSE boxes on my Virtual PC. VPC used to be better because you could create a new machine (new MAC address) but use an existing machine's hard drive info (i.e. the OS would already be installed).....
[Read More ]
January 24, 2005
Yuck!
The pastor that married Maryna and I died of stroke last week. We went to the memorial service on Saturday night and I ended up catching a head cold. I barely made it out of bed this morning. It was rough going. I drove to Stillwater for my office hours...
[Read More ]
January 25, 2005
You might be a geek...
You might be a geek if you hear someone refer to The Donald and you think of Donald Becker, not Donald Trump.
January 28, 2005
Some days...
Somedays I feel that my life isn't worth living anymore. Today is one of those. A day I'm wondering why I'm on the path I'm on. A day I want to get a job at pizza hut and call it good. A day I want to crawl into a hole and hide from the ugliness of the world.
January 30, 2005
Macintosh Super Drive
Burning a copy of Tiger. Ahhh... The benefits of a Apple developer select membership. I should say I'm only having to burn a copy because the version that they mailed to me would not load on my half-dead old powerbook. Hmmm... this one wouldn't even mount...
[Read More ]
January 31, 2005
Excellent suggestions for C++ style.
Here are some great suggestions on the proper use of 'const' in C++. I may try to use these, but old habits die hard.
