metashell

How to Disable Windows Automatic Restart After Updates

2009-09-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

Tired of coming in to work in the morning only to find that all your work you forgot to save is lost because of an auto-restart by Windows during the middle of the night?

Me too.

Here's how to disable this major annoyance of Windows:

* In the Start Menu go to Run type “gpedit.msc” and press Enter

* Now a Group Policy editor will open. In this window navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Template -> Windows Components -> Windows Update

* Double click on No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations

* In the settings window Choose Enabled and click OK

* Close Group Policy Editor

That's it.

Source: http://www.aviransplace.com/2004/12/18/tip-disable-auto-restart-in-windows-update/

Current Inflation

2009-08-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

I heard this morning that inflation in Canada over the past year is at an alltime low of around 0.9% (or so, from memory). Seems a bit odd though that my rent and almost everything that I buy (food) has gone up around 5-10% at least over the past year.

One has to wonder what they are using to calculate the inflation rates around here, or if they ever buy anything at all. Damn lies and statistics, as usual.

No cursor in Emacs 23 with -rv?

2009-08-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

I just tried Emacs 23 for Windows and found a slight annoyance when run with the -rv switch: the cursor isn't visible! A simple work around I found was to set the cursor color:

M-x set-cursor-color

and then type 'white' when prompted for the new color. To make this permanent, you can always add:

(set-cursor-color 'white)

to your $HOME/.emacs file.

lol

2009-01-24T15:16:00.001-08:00

snarge (noun) : remains of a bird found on an aircraft after a bird strike
The engines of US Airways flight 1549 will be examined by the NTSB and
the snarge recovered for analysis. —Carla Dove, Smithsonian, National
Public Radio, Jan 16, 2009
Submitted by: Rick Hansen from Massachusetts on Jan. 22, 2009 12:21

Source: http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/newword_display_recent.php

Fwd: Sandisk Flash Card article

2008-12-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

Don't Waste Your Time With Tying To Boot Sandisk Flash Cards
------------------------------------------------------------

I've wasted a number of hours recently trying to make a flash based
root Gentoo system on a Sandisk 8GB card using a nifty Flash->IDE
adapter I picked up from Ebay for ~$10. In summary, it doesn't work,
at least not for the Dell Latitude LS I was hoping to silence...[1]

It turns out that the card I picked up comes with a shockingly
non-standard 576 byte sector size (as opposed to the 512 bytes of
every other IDE drive on the planet that I have seen or known). This
causes the files stored on the drive to start on addresses which are
not multiples of the 512 bytes which causes GRUB to fail with the
informative 'Error 16' sometimes, or more frequently 'Read Error'.
More importantly, IT JUST DOESN'T WORK.

This phenomenon has been seen in the past when using reiserfs on your
boot partition (due to it's tail packing algorithm). Normally this can
be solved by mounting the partition using the 'notail' option; I was
using the normal ext2 so this was not the problem in my case.

So I am wondering, Sandisk, is there a reason for the 576 byte sector
size other than to completely screw up Linux boot loaders and keep
people from creating cheap flash based systems? Of course, I am no
flash chip design expert so there might be some technical problems
which require such an odd value, but I'm sure if I asked the company
I'd recieve no response...

I am pondering the option of pouring through the GRUB source trying to
find the trigger that hits 'Error 16' and removing it to see if that
might help it work but I haven't had the chance yet. If so I'll post
the results and the patch, but I feel that it could just be another
waste of my time hunting for multiple random occurences of hardcoded
checks scattered around code that has had too many people put their
fingers on it. Time to write another simple, modern boot loader?

Good thing I checked the return policy on the card before I bought it.
I'm taking it back and buying some winter boots, if I can find some.

[1] It did work on my other Compaq EVO so I am assuming that it is the
relatively ancient Phoenix BIOS that is the causing the problems. I
checked the Dell site and found that the A09 BIOS version was the most
up to date available for the system.

just something i wrote for myself that i thought i would share with...myself

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Burton Samograd <burton.samograd@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 7:05 AM
Subject: Sandisk Flash Card article
To: burton.samograd@gmail.com

Don't Waste Your Time With Tying To Boot Sandisk Flash Cards
------------------------------------------------------------

Good thing I checked the return policy on the card before I bought it.
I'm taking it back and buying some winter boots, if I can find some.

Slashdot SEZ : 'i am not human'

2008-12-17T17:13:00.001-08:00

useanenum

2008-09-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Barry Schwarz 07 Sep, 09:04

Re: Increment a number in compile time macro

On Sat, 6 Sep 2008 23:54:08 -0700 (PDT), Bin Chen
 wrote:

>switch(i) {
>case 1:
>  break;
>case 2:
>  break;
>[...]
>case N:
>  break;
>
>}
>
>Now, after some time I want to add a 'case 2' between case 1 and case
>2, the result means every case number after case 2 need to be
>incremented by 1, it there a macro tricks to make life easier? Such
>as:
>
>switch(i) {
>case AUTO_INC_MACRO:
>  break;
>case AUTO_INC_MACRO:

Macros don't perform calculations.  They only perform text
substitution.  And a subsequent appearance of a macro in your code
will not have access to the result of a previous appearance.

However, you can do what you want with an enum.  Something of the form
   enum {CASE1=1, CASE2, ..., CASEN};
and change each case label to
   case CASE1:
   ...
   case CASE2:
   etc.

Later, when you want to insert a case between CASE1 and CASE2, change
you enum to
   enum {CASE1=1, CASE1A, CASE2, ..., CASEN};
and insert the new block of code immediately before the CASE2 label.

To eliminate the rampant confusion after a half-dozen insertions where
CASE6 may be 7 while CASE10 is 13, I would suggest using identifiers
that are suggestive of the function to be performed rather than their
numeric value.  Something like
   enum {INSERT=1, DELETE, EDIT, COMPUTE};
and then you could later amend it to
   enum {INSERT=1, DELETE, EDIT, PRINT, COMPUTE};

chromium-linux-dev @ google groups

2008-09-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

chromium-linux-dev

Visit this group

kubrick's boxes

2008-08-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

how, appropriate

ping

2008-08-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

*smack*

* the news of my departure has been greatly exaggerated *

i like random numbers

2008-07-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

...and this guy says his are better than mine.

i guess ax+b%c just ain't gonna cut it anymore...not that it ever has but it's always

WORKEDFORME

sometimes

no

all the time

but i needed some example forth code, too bad it just doesn't cut it for my system

WTF?

n/m

was it just me?

2008-06-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

or did malloc suddenly get commented out of /usr/include/stdlib.h?

that was stupid.

i'm sure it was just me.

except...

ididn'tdoit

that would be stupid.

Speed Up Gentoo/Emerge

2008-06-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

$ mount -t tmpfs none /var/tmp/portage

warning: use only if you have more free ram than you know what to do with, like I do (4Gigs).

speed up is caused by never touching a moving part (aka. a disk) during operations that read and write lots of files (software building).

i don't have any numbers to say it works faster, but it does. also, you would want to change your MAKEOPTS to reflect your ACTUAL number of processors rather than N+1 since the processors won't be hanging around waiting to read and write to disk anymore.

and you should be doing this to your /tmp as well, since the contents of that aren't supposed to be hanging around after reboot anyways.

as always, put it in your /etc/fstab to make it stick.

SICM + SICP = cooler first year

2008-06-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

look what I found!

...math is hard to read and not too practical with all these computers lying around these days...

maybe this can help translate all those symbols to understandable ASCII and we could start LEARNING TO USE all the things we sat through and are told to forget once we get out of school.

courses are expensive. it pissed me off that i couldn't use any of the information i learned once i started getting paid to write code I DIDN'T OWN.

wanted: structure and interpretations of computational chemistry, how to build your code library that you can take from job to job and not have your employers say they OWN it when you leave

could we keep the types on the first floor please?

2008-06-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

> Representation: Strings vs. Algebraic datatype vs. Quasi-quote

> A meta-programming system uses program annotations (called staging annotations) to distinguish between the meta-program from the > object program. An object program should be a first-class value. One should think of it as a datastructure that can be manipulated like > any other. Many meta-systems represent object-programs by using strings, graphs, or algebraic data-structures.

> With the string encoding, we represent the code fragment f (x,y) simply as "f(x,y)". While constructing and combining fragments
> represented by strings can be done concisely, deconstructing them is quite verbose. More seriously, there is no automatically
> verifiable guarantee that programs thusly constructed are syntactically correct. For example, "f (,y)" can have the static type string, but > this clearly does not imply that this string represents a syntactically correct program.

WHO CARES. THAT IS WHAT EVAL IS FOR. why must all metaprogramming
systems be so f'n annoying and layer even more crap on an already
existing language?

metaprogram strings are not not complete programs. they are short;
they are concise and generally just a bunch of extremely similar
simple code that is REALLY ANNOYING TO TYPE. you don't need an entire
type system to guarantee the correctness of single line code
fragments; that's what your BRAIN IS FOR.

KISS. that last S is for SMARTY.

Source: http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~sheard/staged.html

--
k

sed cheat sheet

2008-06-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Source: http://student.northpark.edu/pemente/sed/sed1line.txt

move on up for even more: http://student.northpark.edu/pemente/sed/


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
HANDY ONE-LINERS FOR SED (Unix stream editor)               Apr. 26, 2004
compiled by Eric Pement - pemente[at]northpark[dot]edu        version 5.4
Latest version of this file is usually at:
 http://sed.sourceforge.net/sed1line.txt
 http://www.student.northpark.edu/pemente/sed/sed1line.txt
This file is also available in Portuguese at:
 http://www.lrv.ufsc.br/wmaker/sed_ptBR.html

FILE SPACING:

# double space a file
sed G

# double space a file which already has blank lines in it. Output file
# should contain no more than one blank line between lines of text.
sed '/^$/d;G'

# triple space a file
sed 'G;G'

# undo double-spacing (assumes even-numbered lines are always blank)
sed 'n;d'

# insert a blank line above every line which matches "regex"
sed '/regex/{x;p;x;}'

# insert a blank line below every line which matches "regex"
sed '/regex/G'

# insert a blank line above and below every line which matches "regex"
sed '/regex/{x;p;x;G;}'

NUMBERING:

# number each line of a file (simple left alignment). Using a tab (see
# note on '\t' at end of file) instead of space will preserve margins.
sed = filename | sed 'N;s/\n/\t/'

# number each line of a file (number on left, right-aligned)
sed = filename | sed 'N; s/^/     /; s/ *\(.\{6,\}\)\n/\1  /'

# number each line of file, but only print numbers if line is not blank
sed '/./=' filename | sed '/./N; s/\n/ /'

# count lines (emulates "wc -l")
sed -n '$='

TEXT CONVERSION AND SUBSTITUTION:

# IN UNIX ENVIRONMENT: convert DOS newlines (CR/LF) to Unix format
sed 's/.$//'               # assumes that all lines end with CR/LF
sed 's/^M$//'              # in bash/tcsh, press Ctrl-V then Ctrl-M
sed 's/\x0D$//'            # gsed 3.02.80, but top script is easier

# IN UNIX ENVIRONMENT: convert Unix newlines (LF) to DOS format
sed "s/$/`echo -e \\\r`/"            # command line under ksh
sed 's/$'"/`echo \\\r`/"             # command line under bash
sed "s/$/`echo \\\r`/"               # command line under zsh
sed 's/$/\r/'                        # gsed 3.02.80

# IN DOS ENVIRONMENT: convert Unix newlines (LF) to DOS format
sed "s/$//"                          # method 1
sed -n p                             # method 2

# IN DOS ENVIRONMENT: convert DOS newlines (CR/LF) to Unix format
# Can only be done with UnxUtils sed, version 4.0.7 or higher.
# Cannot be done with other DOS versions of sed. Use "tr" instead.
sed "s/\r//" infile >outfile         # UnxUtils sed v4.0.7 or higher
tr -d \r outfile            # GNU tr version 1.22 or higher

# delete leading whitespace (spaces, tabs) from front of each line
# aligns all text flush left
sed 's/^[ \t]*//'                    # see note on '\t' at end of file

# delete trailing whitespace (spaces, tabs) from end of each line
sed 's/[ \t]*$//'                    # see note on '\t' at end of file

# delete BOTH leading and trailing whitespace from each line
sed 's/^[ \t]*//;s/[ \t]*$//'

# insert 5 blank spaces at beginning of each line (make page offset)
sed 's/^/     /'

# align all text flush right on a 79-column width
sed -e :a -e 's/^.\{1,78\}$/ &/;ta'  # set at 78 plus 1 space

# center all text in the middle of 79-column width. In method 1,
# spaces at the beginning of the line are significant, and trailing
# spaces are appended at the end of the line. In method 2, spaces at
# the beginning of the line are discarded in centering the line, and
# no trailing spaces appear at the end of lines.
sed  -e :a -e 's/^.\{1,77\}$/ & /;ta'                     # method 1
sed  -e :a -e 's/^.\{1,77\}$/ &/;ta' -e 's/\( *\)\1/\1/'  # method 2

# substitute (find and replace) "foo" with "bar" on each line
sed 's/foo/bar/'             # replaces only 1st instance in a line
sed 's/foo/bar/4'            # replaces only 4th instance in a line
sed 's/foo/bar/g'            # replaces ALL instances in a line
sed 's/\(.*\)foo\(.*foo\)/\1bar\2/' # replace the next-to-last case
sed 's/\(.*\)foo/\1bar/'            # replace only the last case

# substitute "foo" with "bar" ONLY for lines which contain "baz"
sed '/baz/s/foo/bar/g'

# substitute "foo" with "bar" EXCEPT for lines which contain "baz"
sed '/baz/!s/foo/bar/g'

# change "scarlet" or "ruby" or "puce" to "red"
sed 's/scarlet/red/g;s/ruby/red/g;s/puce/red/g'   # most seds
gsed 's/scarlet\|ruby\|puce/red/g'                # GNU sed only

# reverse order of lines (emulates "tac")
# bug/feature in HHsed v1.5 causes blank lines to be deleted
sed '1!G;h;$!d'               # method 1
sed -n '1!G;h;$p'             # method 2

# reverse each character on the line (emulates "rev")
sed '/\n/!G;s/\(.\)\(.*\n\)/&\2\1/;//D;s/.//'

# join pairs of lines side-by-side (like "paste")
sed '$!N;s/\n/ /'

# if a line ends with a backslash, append the next line to it
sed -e :a -e '/\\$/N; s/\\\n//; ta'

# if a line begins with an equal sign, append it to the previous line
# and replace the "=" with a single space
sed -e :a -e '$!N;s/\n=/ /;ta' -e 'P;D'

# add commas to numeric strings, changing "1234567" to "1,234,567"
gsed ':a;s/\B[0-9]\{3\}\>/,&/;ta'                     # GNU sed
sed -e :a -e 's/\(.*[0-9]\)\([0-9]\{3\}\)/\1,\2/;ta'  # other seds

# add commas to numbers with decimal points and minus signs (GNU sed)
gsed ':a;s/\(^\|[^0-9.]\)\([0-9]\+\)\([0-9]\{3\}\)/\1\2,\3/g;ta'

# add a blank line every 5 lines (after lines 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.)
gsed '0~5G'                  # GNU sed only
sed 'n;n;n;n;G;'             # other seds

SELECTIVE PRINTING OF CERTAIN LINES:

# print first 10 lines of file (emulates behavior of "head")
sed 10q

# print first line of file (emulates "head -1")
sed q

# print the last 10 lines of a file (emulates "tail")
sed -e :a -e '$q;N;11,$D;ba'

# print the last 2 lines of a file (emulates "tail -2")
sed '$!N;$!D'

# print the last line of a file (emulates "tail -1")
sed '$!d'                    # method 1
sed -n '$p'                  # method 2

# print only lines which match regular expression (emulates "grep")
sed -n '/regexp/p'           # method 1
sed '/regexp/!d'             # method 2

# print only lines which do NOT match regexp (emulates "grep -v")
sed -n '/regexp/!p'          # method 1, corresponds to above
sed '/regexp/d'              # method 2, simpler syntax

# print the line immediately before a regexp, but not the line
# containing the regexp
sed -n '/regexp/{g;1!p;};h'

# print the line immediately after a regexp, but not the line
# containing the regexp
sed -n '/regexp/{n;p;}'

# print 1 line of context before and after regexp, with line number
# indicating where the regexp occurred (similar to "grep -A1 -B1")
sed -n -e '/regexp/{=;x;1!p;g;$!N;p;D;}' -e h

# grep for AAA and BBB and CCC (in any order)
sed '/AAA/!d; /BBB/!d; /CCC/!d'

# grep for AAA and BBB and CCC (in that order)
sed '/AAA.*BBB.*CCC/!d'

# grep for AAA or BBB or CCC (emulates "egrep")
sed -e '/AAA/b' -e '/BBB/b' -e '/CCC/b' -e d    # most seds
gsed '/AAA\|BBB\|CCC/!d'                        # GNU sed only

# print paragraph if it contains AAA (blank lines separate paragraphs)
# HHsed v1.5 must insert a 'G;' after 'x;' in the next 3 scripts below
sed -e '/./{H;$!d;}' -e 'x;/AAA/!d;'

# print paragraph if it contains AAA and BBB and CCC (in any order)
sed -e '/./{H;$!d;}' -e 'x;/AAA/!d;/BBB/!d;/CCC/!d'

# print paragraph if it contains AAA or BBB or CCC
sed -e '/./{H;$!d;}' -e 'x;/AAA/b' -e '/BBB/b' -e '/CCC/b' -e d
gsed '/./{H;$!d;};x;/AAA\|BBB\|CCC/b;d'         # GNU sed only

# print only lines of 65 characters or longer
sed -n '/^.\{65\}/p'

# print only lines of less than 65 characters
sed -n '/^.\{65\}/!p'        # method 1, corresponds to above
sed '/^.\{65\}/d'            # method 2, simpler syntax

# print section of file from regular expression to end of file
sed -n '/regexp/,$p'

# print section of file based on line numbers (lines 8-12, inclusive)
sed -n '8,12p'               # method 1
sed '8,12!d'                 # method 2

# print line number 52
sed -n '52p'                 # method 1
sed '52!d'                   # method 2
sed '52q;d'                  # method 3, efficient on large files

# beginning at line 3, print every 7th line
gsed -n '3~7p'               # GNU sed only
sed -n '3,${p;n;n;n;n;n;n;}' # other seds

# print section of file between two regular expressions (inclusive)
sed -n '/Iowa/,/Montana/p'             # case sensitive

SELECTIVE DELETION OF CERTAIN LINES:

# print all of file EXCEPT section between 2 regular expressions
sed '/Iowa/,/Montana/d'

# delete duplicate, consecutive lines from a file (emulates "uniq").
# First line in a set of duplicate lines is kept, rest are deleted.
sed '$!N; /^\(.*\)\n\1$/!P; D'

# delete duplicate, nonconsecutive lines from a file. Beware not to
# overflow the buffer size of the hold space, or else use GNU sed.
sed -n 'G; s/\n/&&/; /^\([ -~]*\n\).*\n\1/d; s/\n//; h; P'

# delete all lines except duplicate lines (emulates "uniq -d").
sed '$!N; s/^\(.*\)\n\1$/\1/; t; D'

# delete the first 10 lines of a file
sed '1,10d'

# delete the last line of a file
sed '$d'

# delete the last 2 lines of a file
sed 'N;$!P;$!D;$d'

# delete the last 10 lines of a file
sed -e :a -e '$d;N;2,10ba' -e 'P;D'   # method 1
sed -n -e :a -e '1,10!{P;N;D;};N;ba'  # method 2

# delete every 8th line
gsed '0~8d'                           # GNU sed only
sed 'n;n;n;n;n;n;n;d;'                # other seds

# delete ALL blank lines from a file (same as "grep '.' ")
sed '/^$/d'                           # method 1
sed '/./!d'                           # method 2

# delete all CONSECUTIVE blank lines from file except the first; also
# deletes all blank lines from top and end of file (emulates "cat -s")
sed '/./,/^$/!d'          # method 1, allows 0 blanks at top, 1 at EOF
sed '/^$/N;/\n$/D'        # method 2, allows 1 blank at top, 0 at EOF

# delete all CONSECUTIVE blank lines from file except the first 2:
sed '/^$/N;/\n$/N;//D'

# delete all leading blank lines at top of file
sed '/./,$!d'

# delete all trailing blank lines at end of file
sed -e :a -e '/^\n*$/{$d;N;ba' -e '}'  # works on all seds
sed -e :a -e '/^\n*$/N;/\n$/ba'        # ditto, except for gsed 3.02*

# delete the last line of each paragraph
sed -n '/^$/{p;h;};/./{x;/./p;}'

SPECIAL APPLICATIONS:

# remove nroff overstrikes (char, backspace) from man pages. The 'echo'
# command may need an -e switch if you use Unix System V or bash shell.
sed "s/.`echo \\\b`//g"    # double quotes required for Unix environment
sed 's/.^H//g'             # in bash/tcsh, press Ctrl-V and then Ctrl-H
sed 's/.\x08//g'           # hex expression for sed v1.5

# get Usenet/e-mail message header
sed '/^$/q'                # deletes everything after first blank line

# get Usenet/e-mail message body
sed '1,/^$/d'              # deletes everything up to first blank line

# get Subject header, but remove initial "Subject: " portion
sed '/^Subject: */!d; s///;q'

# get return address header
sed '/^Reply-To:/q; /^From:/h; /./d;g;q'

# parse out the address proper. Pulls out the e-mail address by itself
# from the 1-line return address header (see preceding script)
sed 's/ *(.*)//; s/>.*//; s/.*[:<] *//'  # add a leading angle bracket and space to each line (quote a message) sed 's/^/> /'

# delete leading angle bracket & space from each line (unquote a message)
sed 's/^> //'

# remove most HTML tags (accommodates multiple-line tags)
sed -e :a -e 's/<[^>]*>//g;/zipup.bat
dir /b *.txt | sed "s/^\(.*\)\.TXT/pkzip -mo \1 \1.TXT/" >>zipup.bat

TYPICAL USE: Sed takes one or more editing commands and applies all of
them, in sequence, to each line of input. After all the commands have
been applied to the first input line, that line is output and a second
input line is taken for processing, and the cycle repeats. The
preceding examples assume that input comes from the standard input
device (i.e, the console, normally this will be piped input). One or
more filenames can be appended to the command line if the input does
not come from stdin. Output is sent to stdout (the screen). Thus:

cat filename | sed '10q'        # uses piped input
sed '10q' filename              # same effect, avoids a useless "cat"
sed '10q' filename > newfile    # redirects output to disk

For additional syntax instructions, including the way to apply editing
commands from a disk file instead of the command line, consult "sed &
awk, 2nd Edition," by Dale Dougherty and Arnold Robbins (O'Reilly,
1997; http://www.ora.com), "UNIX Text Processing," by Dale Dougherty
and Tim O'Reilly (Hayden Books, 1987) or the tutorials by Mike Arst
distributed in U-SEDIT2.ZIP (many sites). To fully exploit the power
of sed, one must understand "regular expressions." For this, see
"Mastering Regular Expressions" by Jeffrey Friedl (O'Reilly, 1997).
The manual ("man") pages on Unix systems may be helpful (try "man
sed", "man regexp", or the subsection on regular expressions in "man
ed"), but man pages are notoriously difficult. They are not written to
teach sed use or regexps to first-time users, but as a reference text
for those already acquainted with these tools.

QUOTING SYNTAX: The preceding examples use single quotes ('...')
instead of double quotes ("...") to enclose editing commands, since
sed is typically used on a Unix platform. Single quotes prevent the
Unix shell from intrepreting the dollar sign ($) and backquotes
(`...`), which are expanded by the shell if they are enclosed in
double quotes. Users of the "csh" shell and derivatives will also need
to quote the exclamation mark (!) with the backslash (i.e., \!) to
properly run the examples listed above, even within single quotes.
Versions of sed written for DOS invariably require double quotes
("...") instead of single quotes to enclose editing commands.

USE OF '\t' IN SED SCRIPTS: For clarity in documentation, we have used
the expression '\t' to indicate a tab character (0x09) in the scripts.
However, most versions of sed do not recognize the '\t' abbreviation,
so when typing these scripts from the command line, you should press
the TAB key instead. '\t' is supported as a regular expression
metacharacter in awk, perl, and HHsed, sedmod, and GNU sed v3.02.80.

VERSIONS OF SED: Versions of sed do differ, and some slight syntax
variation is to be expected. In particular, most do not support the
use of labels (:name) or branch instructions (b,t) within editing
commands, except at the end of those commands. We have used the syntax
which will be portable to most users of sed, even though the popular
GNU versions of sed allow a more succinct syntax. When the reader sees
a fairly long command such as this:

 sed -e '/AAA/b' -e '/BBB/b' -e '/CCC/b' -e d

it is heartening to know that GNU sed will let you reduce it to:

 sed '/AAA/b;/BBB/b;/CCC/b;d'      # or even
 sed '/AAA\|BBB\|CCC/b;d'

In addition, remember that while many versions of sed accept a command
like "/one/ s/RE1/RE2/", some do NOT allow "/one/! s/RE1/RE2/", which
contains space before the 's'. Omit the space when typing the command.

OPTIMIZING FOR SPEED: If execution speed needs to be increased (due to
large input files or slow processors or hard disks), substitution will
be executed more quickly if the "find" expression is specified before
giving the "s/.../.../" instruction. Thus:

 sed 's/foo/bar/g' filename         # standard replace command
 sed '/foo/ s/foo/bar/g' filename   # executes more quickly
 sed '/foo/ s//bar/g' filename      # shorthand sed syntax

On line selection or deletion in which you only need to output lines
from the first part of the file, a "quit" command (q) in the script
will drastically reduce processing time for large files. Thus:

 sed -n '45,50p' filename           # print line nos. 45-50 of a file
 sed -n '51q;45,50p' filename       # same, but executes much faster

If you have any additional scripts to contribute or if you find errors
in this document, please send e-mail to the compiler. Indicate the
version of sed you used, the operating system it was compiled for, and
the nature of the problem. Various scripts in this file were written
or contributed by:

Al Aab    # "seders" list moderator
Edgar Allen               # various
Yiorgos Adamopoulos 
Dale Dougherty      # author of "sed & awk"
Carlos Duarte     # author of "do it with sed"
Eric Pement     # author of this document
Ken Pizzini           # author of GNU sed v3.02
S.G. Ravenhall  # great de-html script
Greg Ubben       # many contributions & much help
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Code Bounties aka. presents

2008-06-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Like these get me excited. Of course, as usual, I missed them, or it seems as such, but listing projects with "we will pay this much for you to do them" is a lot more modern and will probably result in better results than the "i have a project; how cheap can i get someone to screw up it's development" that most developer slave auction sites follow.

A recent discussion with a possible employer I was having on an above mentioned auction site resulted in them ceasing their discussions with me about the possibility of my working (and getting paid to work on!) the project. I am unsure of why the stopped talking with me, but after a few mailings with them and me STILL HAVING NO CLEAR IDEA what the hell they were wanting me to do and them DEMANDING how much I was willing to do it for, I told them to tell me how much they wanted to pay me.

I said, you will get what you pay for. Well, I didn't say it exactly like that, but I did ensure them that the quality of the resulting product will be proportional to the proposed and actual budget that they were willing to commit to over the lifespan of the development.

Seems like people don't like way sort of dealings with a tech-slave. At least this one didn't. They ceased communication and negotiation with me; I still have no clear idea of what they wanted. I even asked them to draw me a diagram.

But, back to the subject; Code Bounties are cool and I think more companies and projects should offer them. The amounts offered for the Neuros projects look pretty reasonable somewhat in line with an expected livable salary for a 'Code Bounty' hunter, given the skill set and experience required to complete a the projects.

And it's better than some dick expecting to get some desperate loser to do their work for them for $100 because they won't accept a bid any higher than that...BECAUSE THEY DON"T HAVE TO.

For a project manager to put up on a listing "I AM WILLING TO PAY $4000 TO HAVE THIS DONE TO MY PROJECT" shows some commitment and ALSO SHOWS that they are expecting a professional to complete this project and also THEY have thought about and done some research into how much a project like that should cost.

I mean, if you want your developers to be able to pay their power bills. And feed their cats. And some can't really work in offices day to day to day to day to day to day, so some of us NEED AN WAY TO MAKE A LIVING WAGE WITH OUR SKILLS FROM DECENT EMPLOYERS. I'm sure there are some out there.

But then again I hate the slave auction model...and my cat KILLER is

HUNGRY.

Well, not so much lately, but he will be again

soon.

so, EMPLOYERS, maybe you might want to think about payment and proposal models for software development projects using open source software. i presented one, now you can present the other...

the rosetta code?

2008-06-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

or just plain creepy? [source]

(actually, there's a bunch more that's fascinating me too...)

-- Some unix-like tools written in simple, clean Haskell


-- Author: Don Stewart, 2006, http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~dons
-- Free for any use.
--

import Data.List
import Data.Char
import System.IO
import Text.Printf

-- 
-- First, two helpers
--
io f    = interact (unlines . f . lines)
showln  = (++ "\n") . show

--
-- The 'cat' program
--
cat     = interact id

--
-- Sort a file
--
sort'   = io sort

--
-- remove duplicate lines from a file (like uniq)
--
uniq    = io nub

-- 
-- repeat the input file infintely 
--
rpt     = interact cycle

--
-- Return the head -10 line of a file
--
take'   = io (take 10)

--
-- Remove the first 10 lines of a file
--
drop'   = io (drop 10)

--
-- Return the head -1 line of a file
--
head'   = io (return . head)

--
-- Return the tail -1 line of a file
--
tail'   = io (return . last)

-- 
-- Reverse lines in a file (tac)
--
tac     = io reverse

--
-- Reverse characters on each line (rev)
--
rev     = io (map reverse)

--
-- Reverse words on each line
--
revw    = io $ map (unwords. reverse . words)

--
-- Count number of characters in a file (like wc -c)
--
wc_c    = interact (showln . length)

--
-- Count number of lines in a file, like wc -l
--
wc_l    = interact (showln . length . lines)

--
-- Count number of words in a file (like wc -w)
--
wc_w    = interact (showln . length . words)

--
-- double space a file
--
space   = io (intersperse "")

-- 
-- undo double space
--
unspace = io $ filter (not.null)

--
-- remove the first occurence of the line "str"
--
remove  = io (delete "str")

--
-- make a file all upper case
--
upper   = interact (map toUpper)

--
-- remove leading space from each line
--
clean   = io $ map (dropWhile isSpace)

--
-- remove trailing whitespace
--
clean'  = io (map f)
    where f = reverse . dropWhile isSpace . reverse

--
-- delete leading and trailing whitespace
--
clean'' = io $ map (f . f)
    where f = reverse . dropWhile isSpace

--
-- insert blank space at beginning of each line
--
blank   = io $ map (s ++)
    where s = replicate 8 ' '

--
-- join lines of a file
--
join    = io (return . concat)

--
-- Translate the letter 'e' to '*', like tr 'e' '*' (or y// in sed)
--
y       = interact (map f)
    where f 'e' = '*'
          f  c  =  c
--
-- Filter the letter 'e' from a file, like tr -d 'e'
--
tr      = interact $ filter (/= 'e')

--
-- grep lines matching "^foo" from a file
--
grep    = io $ filter (isPrefixOf "foo")

--
-- grep lines that don't match "^foo" (grep -v)
--
grep_v  = io $ filter (not . isPrefixOf "foo")

--
-- number each line of a file
--
num     = io $ zipWith (printf "%3d %s") [(1::Int)..]

--
-- Compute a simple cksum of a file
--
cksum   = interact $ showln . foldl' k 5381
    where k h c = h * 33 + ord c

HOTWO: draw OpenGL on the X11 root window

2008-06-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

it's just that easy

http://code.google.com/p/rootbox/downloads/list

http://code.google.com/p/rootbox/wiki/PageName

Algebraic Data Types In Javascript

2008-06-17T11:56:00.001-07:00

Kinda like Haskell, but more ugly...

http://w3future.com/weblog/stories/2008/06/16/adtinjs.xml (by http://en.q42.nl/about-us)

I guess I'd better start (re)learning my javascript again...it looks
like I have to make a website before anybody will take me seriously...

Fwd: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! CD / Vinyl / iTunes + Bonus Tracks!!

2008-06-16T13:37:00.001-07:00

not much for advertising, but SAUL WILLIAMS kicks serious ass as an artist, plus 'The Rise...' was done with Trent Reznor on production, so I can't really say that I can't promote a combo like that!
--kruhft hasbig (and sorry for seriously swearing!)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Saul Williams Email List <email_list@saulwilliams.com>
Date: Jun 10, 2008 10:48 AM
Subject: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! CD / Vinyl / iTunes + Bonus Tracks!!
To: burton.samograd@gmail.com

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! OUT NOW on iTunes Available July 8th on CD and Limited Edition Double Vinyl Album with 5 Bonus Tracks!
Track list: Black History Month, Convict Colony, Tr(n)igger, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Break, Niggy Tardust, DNA, WTF!, Scared Money,Raw, Skin of a Drum, No One Ever Does, Banged and Blown Through, Raised to be Lowered, The Ritual Bonus Tracks: Pedagogue of Young Gods World on Wheels Can't Hide Love Gunshots by Computer List of Demands (Reparations)

The NEW WEBSITE
is ONLINE NOW
Videos, performance dates,
the latest news and photos.
and a word to the wise...
arrow keys, shift and spacebar.

WWW.SAULWILLIAMS.COM

The NEW FORUM at SaulWilliams.com is LIVE
Post poems, talk music, spead love
and recipes, be kind...
Saul will be checking in to say hi,
read your work, and share thoughts.

WWW.SAULWILLIAMS.COM/FORUM

p.s. Go Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO A FRIEND

Click here to be removed from Saul Williams' list

--
Burton Samograd - ${psitechnologies[indirector]}
burton.samograd@gmail.com, psitechnologies@gmail.com
http://burton.samograd.googlepages.com/,. http://psitechnologies.googlepages.com/

Request for an LG-490 Software Development Kit - 2008

2008-05-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

guess i'll just have to

hackit

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Burton Samograd

- Hide quoted text -
Date: Tue, May 27, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: [218411:150149]
To: jennifer

Ok. Thank you for your time.

--
Burton Samograd

On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 12:48 PM, jennifer wrote:
> Dear Customer,
>
> I do apologize, but we do not have any of these development kits. I do not know who you would need to contact for this sort of issue.
>
> If you have other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us again either via email, or by calling our customer service division at 800-793-8896 at your convenience.
>
> Jennifer S
> Electronic Correspondence Executive (ECE)
> LG Electronics USA
> 800-793-8896
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Burton Samograd"
> Received: 5/27/2008 12:33 PM
> To: "jennifer"
> Subject: Re: [218411:150118]
>
> Hi Jennifer,
>
> I currently have 2 LG phones that I am interested in developing for.
> The first is a 'Telus' phone, with an ESN of 02105371663 and this is a
> Canadian phone.
>
> The second is one that I ordered from the USA, second hand from Ebay,
> which I do not connect to any phone network. It is from a provider
> named 'Alltel'. This is the info from the backplate:
>
> Model No: AX490a
> S/N: 610KPJP0216932
> ESN: HEX 15AF6B25
>
> The first is my personal phone; I do not wish to do much delopment for
> that model. The second phone listed would be the one that most, if not
> all of my software development would be for, but if I could obtain
> info on the first one, I would be happy with that as well.
>
> Thank you for your reply and I hope I hear from you soon.
>
> --
> Burton Samograd
> burton.samograd@gmail.com
> http://burton.samograd.googlepages.com
>
> On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 11:06 AM, jennifer wrote:
>> Dear Customer,
>>
>> We are delighted to hear from you as our Valued Customer. Please provide me with the esn/imei # so I can verify you have a phone made for the United States and can further assist you.
>>
>> If you have other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us again either via email, or by calling our customer service division at 800-793-8896 at your convenience.
>>
>> Jennifer S
>> Electronic Correspondence Executive (ECE)
>> LG Electronics USA
>> 800-793-8896
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Name Burton Samograd (burton.samograd@gmail.com)
>> Country/Region U.S.A. l Customer Information l
>> Received Date 5/26/2008
>> Status of inquiry Received
>> The type of inquiry Software/Hardware updates
>> Product / Model No. CDMA Mobile Phones/490
>> Person in charge customerservice (customerservice@lge.com)
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I was wondering how I might be able to obtain a Software Development Kit (SDK) for my LG-490 telephone. I love the phone, but I feel that the software could use a bit of updating to compliment the amazing and durable hardware that you have developed.
>>
>> A free development kit would be best, since I already have the phone and a link cable to do software updates and downloads. I use Linux, Windows and (possibly) Sun/Solaris, so if you have tools that support those platforms, that would be a major bonus.
>>
>> I would also need some full documentation for your Java API's so as to use the internal hardware to it's maximum potential; some basic tutorials on how to write some simple applications and how to get them installed and running on the phone would also be *very* helpful.
>>
>> Thanks and I hope that you will be able to provide an SDK to me to help with the enhancement of you otherwise amazing product. You can communicate with me VIA email at burton.samograd@gmail.com about this request if you would like any other info or a better idea of what I am expecting from an SDK.
>>
>> If you do not have a FREE development kit, please tell me how much it will cost to develop software for your hardware and I will add it to my working budget (which, unfortunately is very low at the moment as I am looking for startup funding, which I cannot guarantee will, if ever, arrive).
>>
>> Thank you. I hope you can fulfill my request in a timely manner, and I hope you have a nice day.
>>
>> --
>> Burton Samograd
>> burton.samograd@gmail.com
>> http://burtonsamograd.googlepages.com
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Burton Samograd
> burton.samograd@gmail.com
> http://burton.samograd.googlepages.com
>

--
Burton Samograd
burton.samograd@gmail.com
http://burton.samograd.googlepages.com

--

- Hide quoted text -
Burton Samograd
burton.samograd@gmail.com
http://burton.samograd.googlepages.com

narritive-rechaining: new web piece

2008-05-27T11:24:00.001-07:00

A recent walk to the back corner of the main library of the University of Regina found me a book, title paraphrased as "The Dictionary of Psychology and Mental Disorders". As I searched the book, I used my cameraphone to take notes, with which, I have assembled narritive-rechaining, both a pseudo-web-art piece, as well as a cognitive theory that I was *unsable* to find in the book...although I can't say that looking through the book didn't give me the ideas for coming up with the, possibly new, theory on mental disorders.

But, the book might be old and some current researcher might have already come up with it, but...given I'm no mentaldisorderologist, I am unsure if I have come up with

somethingnew, but I figure, an afternoon of wasted research

could be ART.

Enjoy the piece, and don't forget to donate if you would like to help me keep my domains I bought from godaddy before some nasty parker comes along and swipes them up...

Dear Gmail...

2008-05-26T08:15:00.001-07:00

Have an idea for gmail? I did, and it took me a while to find out *exactly* where to type it to make sure it gets to the team.

I love gmail and I've been using it for years, but the 1st Web2.0 app that put AJAX on the map is starting to lack a couple of features that would make my work a bit more convenient. If you're thinking so too, the link above is where you should go instead of bitching about it on your blog...

todo: suggest that more companies and development teams have such links displayed and available WITH STAFF to read and filter the suggestions, rather than the old way of having marketing telling the developers what the people want in the next version.

Have a great day, and until next time...peace.

Fwd: HOWTO: fix the Alt/Meta key xterm problem

2008-04-14T07:54:00.001-07:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Burton Samograd <burton.samograd@gmail.com>
Date: Apr 14, 2008 2:53 PM
Subject: HOWTO: fix the Alt/Meta key xterm problem
To: kruhft <kruhft@gmail.com>

This is supposed to fix the Alt/Meta key not working problem in standard xterms:



echo 'xterm*altSendsEscape:   true' >> ~/.Xdefaults

xrdb -merge ~/.Xdefaults

The /easier/ solution is to install rxvt; that always works.

Another Blog, Another Day

2008-04-08T10:56:00.001-07:00

I just started my Around Town WTF? blog, which, as you might have guessed, is photos of things that I see on my walks around town that just make me go "What the F*uck?"™.

I was thinking of taking the photos and making a book if there is any interest, so make some comments and let me know you're listening and then I might get inspired to create something for your coffee table...

Google Radar

2008-03-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

I did a recent post asking "Have you ever wondered who Charlie Rich was?" on the "alter-blog" of this site meta's hell. I was curious, because I get a number of emails a week with his name in it using a feature of Google I like to call "Google Radar".

As some of you might know, I have written a number of albums over the past few years, and like anybody, would like to know when people talk about it, such as a review or whatever they might feel like saying about my work, good or bad. To do that, I use a Google Alerts, using the name of my album as the alert term, and I get up to date emails from Google whenever it finds something about my album title.

Unfortunately for me, all it seems to find it is a bunch of used copies of Charlie Rich's album for sale. Given that I have no idea who Charlie Rich is, and the fact that I have sold less than 10 albums in the past 5 years since I started writing music, I thought I would find out who this superstar might be.

It turns out he was the singer that wrote a song about crying over a lost lover.

But I digress. This post was to tell you about Google Alerts, so you might want to give them a shot. Try putting your name, your company name, anything you want to know something about that might get updated on the web and you'll get custom emails sent right to your inbox.

It's a feature I don't know if I would be able to live without and I hope you find it useful and can't live without it too.

Until next time...

Supercompilation

2008-03-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a pretty understandable paper on the concept of supercompilation, which can most easily be described as whole program optimzation. It takes a less theoretical view and concentrates on the process of supercompiling programs written by humans, rather than a more complex general solution, so it is a lot less mathy and a lot more understandable than most papers on the subject so I suggest giving it a read.

Found in the LTU Forums.

Think there are only 2 Operating Systems for your PC?

2008-03-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Think different.

--
k

Alas, yorick, I do not know thee well enough

2008-03-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yorick is a cool little language for scientific computing. Powerful enough to simulate an airfoil, yet small enough to fit on a floppy. The project has been around for quite some time, but thanks to it's author, it has successfully kept with the times (aka. it has a configure script that works, it builds with modern compilers and works when you actually try to run it). All that, and it's fun and intuitive to use, has a C like syntax, handles numeric arrays incredibly efficiently, comes with an easy to use graphics output system, *and* it /doesn't/ come with a 10000 function 'standard' library (I consider that a feature) so you might learn some programming rather than just how to duct tape and bubble gum library components together.

Oh, and it's well documented.

Siag Office - because it sucks less!

2008-03-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

Fully scriptable in scheme, comes with word processor, spread sheet and animation program (along with a few other nice tools), and, according to it's byline, it sucks less. It's not too hard to figure out what systems it probably sucks less than, so you might want to give it a shot, especially if you have an older system that can't run the current monolithic office suites.

Check it out here.

xmagic hits

2008-03-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Searching for XMagic on google gave me the following (unfortunately) unrelated hits on my search which seemed interesting enough to save:

an alternate implementation of file typing based on Magic numbers or tests based on file(1) - http://ftimes.sourceforge.net/FTimes/XMagic.shtml

a library written in C, which allows integration of the ImageMagick library with any X application - http://siag.nu/xmagick/

There were not what I wanted, but interesting nonetheless. The real magic can be found here: ftp://netlib.org/magic/index.html.

Random Matrix Generator

2008-03-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

If you ever have a pressing need to generate some random matrix data, here's a nice web interface to the LAPACK Test Matrix Generators. Since the form paramters are a bit, um, complex, one would think that you could get *even* more random matrices by filling in the parameters randomly! Isn't randomness just asking for something and not knowing what you're going to get?

Found by browsing NETLIB.

CRAY-1 Hardware Reference Manual

2008-03-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Anybody that knows anything about hardware has heard of the CRAY super computer company. These machines seem a bit tame by today's standard where you can buy a 1x1 inch chip with 4 of these machines in them, but there's a lot to learn from how they were designed. Lucky for us, a copy of the original CRAY-1 Hardware Reference Manual is available online for those interested in the inner workings of the original supercomputer.

Plus they even had built in seating. Now that was class that you just don't see today.

UNIX commands for computational linguists

2008-03-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice point form 'cook book' type article that gives plenty of recipes for those that are interested in using UNIX to analyze words. Read it here.

You might find it handy when doing some self study using the course notes and slides from LING 571: Computational Corpus Linguistics from San Diego State University.

Remember, nobody ever got dumber learning UNIX... ;-)

Creating a PDF With Embedded Fonts from a Postscript file

2008-03-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

ps2pdf -dEmbedAllFonts=true -dPDFSETTINGS=/printer v7vol1.ps

It's just that easy :-/

HOWTO: Make a Windows installer with SIOD

2008-01-19T00:48:00.001-08:00

Here is an interesting part of the "Scheme in One Defun" (SIOD) documentation that I found that shows how to create a simple setup.exe install program for Windows:

;;-*-mode:lisp-*-

;; name: setup.scm
;; purpose: source for SETUP.EXE for installation of SIOD subset
;; along with ECI script extension file.
;; created: 28-JUL-1999 George J. Carrette LITTON/TASC
;;
;; note: The commercial product installshield can do this much prettier.
;; As can a custom setup.exe created using visual C++ or
;; visual basic.

(define *siod-dist-files*
'("siod.exe"
"csiod.exe"
"wcsiod.exe"
"slibw32.dll"
"libsiod.dll"))

(define *eci-dist-files*
'("epshr02.dll"
"eciclt32.dll"))

(define *siod-eci-dist-files*
'("siod_eci.dll"
"ecisample.ssf"
"readme.txt"))

(define (fatal-setup-error . rest)
(apply writes (cons nil rest))
(error "fatal setup error"))

(define (main)
(let ((result (*catch 'errobj (cons 1 (main-1)) nil)))
(writes nil "Press Enter to exit ...")
(readline)))

(define *key* "SOFTWARE\\George Carrette\\SIOD")
(define *dir* "C:\\SIOD")
(define *ftype* "SSF")

(define (main-1)
(writes nil
"*****************************************\n"
"* ECI SIOD scripting language installer *\n"
"* See README.TXT for more information *\n"
"*****************************************\n"
"\n")
(require-so (so-ext 'slibw32))
(let ((inplace-siod-lib (siod-lib))
(key *key*)
(root "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE")
(value "SIOD_LIB")
(registered-siod-lib nil)
(new-siod-lib nil))
(*catch 'errobj
(set! registered-siod-lib (registry-ref root key value)))
(writes nil "\n")
(cond ((equal? inplace-siod-lib registered-siod-lib)
;; if this setup.scm was compiled with :b=siod.exe
;; then this can happen.
(fatal-setup-error "Improperly built SETUP.EXE\n")))
(writes nil
"SETUP DIR = " inplace-siod-lib "\n")
(cond (registered-siod-lib
(writes nil
"Installed SIOD LIB DIR = " registered-siod-lib "\n\n")
(cond ((y-or-n-p
(string-append "copy ECI files to "
registered-siod-lib " directory?"))
(install-files (append *eci-dist-files*
*siod-eci-dist-files*)
inplace-siod-lib
registered-siod-lib))
('else
(fatal-setup-error "user chose not to install files\n"))))
((set! new-siod-lib
(get-user-input "Installation Destination directory"
*dir*))
(if (not (substring-equal? "\\"
new-siod-lib
(- (length new-siod-lib) 1)
(length new-siod-lib)))
(set! new-siod-lib (string-append new-siod-lib
"\\")))
(or (y-or-n-p
(string-append "copy ECI files to "
new-siod-lib " directory?"))
(fatal-setup-error "user chose not to install files\n"))
(create-directory new-siod-lib)
(install-files (append *eci-dist-files*
*siod-eci-dist-files*
*siod-dist-files*)
inplace-siod-lib
new-siod-lib)
(registry-set root key value new-siod-lib))
('else
(fatal-setup-error "not implemented")))
(cond ((y-or-n-p (string-append
"Register file extension "
*ftype* " ? "))
(register-siod-ftype (registry-ref root key value)))))
(writes nil
"********\n"
"* DONE *\n"
"********\n"
"\n"))

(define (register-siod-ftype dir)
(registry-set "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT"
(string-append "." *ftype*)
""
(string-append *ftype* "_FILE"))
(registry-set "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT"
(string-append *ftype* "_FILE")
""
"SIOD script file")
(registry-set "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT"
(string-append *ftype* "_FILE"
"\\Shell\\open\\command")
""
(string-append "\""
dir
"siod.exe\""
"-v01,-m2 \"%1\" %*"))
(registry-set "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT"
(string-append *ftype* "_FILE"
"\\Shell\\Edit\\command")
""
;; we should actually get this value from the key
;; WordPad.Document.1\\Shell\Open\command.
;; or wrifile. (for .wri).
(string-append "\""
(or (getenv "sysmtedrive") "C:")
"\\Program Files\\Windows NT\\Accessories\\"
"WORDPAD.EXE"
"\""
" \"%1\"")))

(define (y-or-n-p . msg)
(let ((result nil)
(return nil)
(in nil))
(while (not return)
(apply writes (cons nil msg))
(set! in (readline))
(cond ((not in) (fatal-setup-error "no input\n"))
((member (set! in (string-downcase (string-trim in)))
'("y" "yes"))
(set! return t)
(set! result t))
((member in '("n" "no"))
(set! return t)
(set! result nil))
('else
(writes nil "Please reply yes or no.\n"))))
result))

(define (get-user-input msg default)
(let ((result nil)
(return nil)
(in nil))
(while (not return)
(writes nil msg " [" default "]: ")
(set! in (readline))
(cond ((not in) (fatal-setup-error "no input\n"))
((equal? in "")
(set! return t)
(set! result default))
('else
(set! return in)
(set! result nil))))
result))

(define (install-files l from into)
(mapcar (lambda (x)
(copy-one-file (string-append from x)
(string-append into x)))
l))

(define (copy-one-file from to)
(let ((buff (cons-array 4096 'byte))
(in (fopen from "rb"))
(out (fopen to "wb"))
(nbytes nil))
(writes nil from " -> " to "\n")
(while (set! nbytes (fread buff in))
(fwrite (if (= nbytes (length buff)) buff (list buff nbytes)) out))
(fclose in)
(fclose out)))

(define (create-directory name)
(let ((old (getcwd)))
(chdir (getenv "WINDIR"))
;; chdir prevents warning if cwd is an UNC
(system (string-append "mkdir \"" name "\""))
(chdir old)))

; source: http://people.delphiforums.com/gjc/winsiod.html

No frills GMail

2007-11-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to GMail Mobile, a nice, no frills interface HTML interface to your gmail inbox that can easily be embedded in an IFRAME:

http://mail.google.com/mail/x/nurm3ov6beir-/?f=1

Searching for 'iframe' on google gadgets, you can use the first entry to add this to your google homepage. By entering the URL into the iframe gadget, this page will act as notifier which you can also use to browse and edit your Inbox, unlike the default gadget that google provides. Seems like an improvement to me, plus you can now use your GMail from the homepage rather than have to open another tab.

It looks like News and Calendar both have mobile interfaces as well. Here's a shot of my new an improved IFRAME'd homepage with the GMail and Calendar embedded using the IFRAME gadget:

More functionality, faster and probably a lot less code than running the full app. Looks like we have a winner.

Christmas came early

2007-11-21T16:00:00.001-08:00

sweet

2007-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

ionice -n3 ...

2007-11-18T10:48:00.001-08:00

When doing a massive rsync over a USB 1.1 line, the aformentioned command in the title will give you your system responsiveness back. ionice is part of the linux I/O scheduler system, and this was the first case I thought of trying it. I'm not sure if my system gets sluggish and unresponsive because of the USB subsystem or sheer amount of data being pushed through my system, but prefixing any long, disk intensive command makes Linux act reasonably responsive.

man ionice for more details.

the signal

2007-11-11T03:10:00.000-08:00

a single bit of information used to trigger a predetermined meaning.

a signal can be sent to ensure that a situation is in an agreed uponstate. the actual content or value of the signal is not meaningful atall. the information that is to be transmitted is contained in theoccurance of the signal itself.

the signal can transmit any amount of information instantly over any distance.

see also: the sign

2007-11-11T03:08:00.000-08:00

a single bit of information used to trigger a predetermined meaning.

a signal can be sent to ensure that a situation is in an agreed upon
state. the actual content or value of the signal is not meaningful at
all. the information that is to be transmitted is contained in the
occurance of the signal itself.

the signal can transmit any amount of information instantly over any distance.

see also: the sign

2007-11-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

by PlusFiveTroll (754249) on Thursday November 08, @05:35PM (#21287481)

It's a hell of a lot easier (for me at least) to spend 20 minutes replacing 5 to 15 bad caps, then to put a new board in and trying to get windows working and praying that you don't have to reactivate the product over the phone.

Maybe 5 caps, but 15? Of course being able to do it in 20 minutes is probably a hell of a lot faster than spending the time on the phone to register. Looks like I won't be using any OS that requires any form of 'activation' in the near future, if only because if you have to activate it to make it work, you're going to have to activate it again, and again, and again... Putting in more ram, changing a hard drive or upgrading your processor should *not* void your operating system licence, but if the stories are true, then replacing caps might be the only option if the support line goes down in the future.

2007-11-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

With the "2.0" roll out of Gmail, the biggest news was the addition of IMAP support, but there is one change that I'm quite happy with: a new contact manger! After struggling (and purposely avoiding) the old interface, the new version gives a much improved, more "real" interface, rather than the individual, slow loading page reloads that plagued the old UI.

The actual features of the contact manager seem to have remained stable with this new interface. The contact info for each person is easily expandable with additional email addresses, phone numbers, notes and other info. I'm no contact database master, but it looks to me like it should be more than adequate for organizing your communications contacts.

And now that the interface doesn't suck so much, I might actually use it. Viva organization!

Until next time...

2007-11-07T19:34:00.000-08:00

I have been working with Solaris lately, so I've been keeping my eyes out for administration articles. Here is a couple from the Sun site that could come in handy for those that are new to or are interested in finding out a bit more about the system.

Comparison of Solaris OS and Linux for Application Developers

How to Mount a USB Flash Drive

The Solaris 10 DVD's that weren't able to install properly on my Thinkpad, are working quite well on my older Compaq Evo system. The actual operating system, at first glance, is very similar to Ubuntu, with GNOME as it's default desktop environment. I've experienced a hardware / driver problems, such as my new Intellimouse not working correctly[1] and I can't say I've tried the sound yet, but as a 'Workstation' operating system, I think that it will be entirely sufficient for a complete, distraction free, development environment. Sun also provides a full suite of development tools (Sun Studio and Java Studio), office suite (Star Office) and graphics applications (The GNU Image Manipulation Program) with the package, so it's a great start for a professional development and/or office environment.

If you are interested in Solaris, you can download or order DVD's by mail. The cost? $0. You can't really beat that, plus the DVD's arrived at my door in about 2 days. Not bad.

Now back to reading my articles...

2007-11-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, it looks like the word processor Google Docs has the capability of posting to Blogger blogs. This could come in handy and means one less extension to install, namely ScribeFire. Extensions are nice buy you have to install them to make them handy, and sometimes you don't have that option in Internet Cafe's or locked down office setups, so getting used to using browser only programs might be a good idea. At least I think so, just to keep your interface consistent. If only they had Emacs key bindings in the word processor, but then again I'm trying to wean my self off of that, so this might be a good thing.

Welcome to version 3.0!

2007-10-31T16:14:00.001-07:00

This is the 3rd (actually, 3.11) version of metashell (v2.0 and v1.0 are still available in case you are interested), my little site where I report on some news, some new software, some advanced technology and some other things that I (and hopefully you) find interesting and useful. Please feel free to comment on my posts, as I would like to promote discussion about the topics I write about as much as possible.

You can subscribe to my posts through an RSS feed, so you don't have to remember to bookmark and come back to the site.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the articles!