Rick (codemonkey that he is) sent me an email in response to my post titled “Open Source OPML Directories?” He has a working OPML directory renderer on his site that is powered by PHP, Javascript, JSRS and is backed by a database.
It also renders with some pretty wicked DHTML. Maybe if we poke him enough he might release his code under a CYA open source license of some sort.
Wi-Fi Networking News has some more dirt on Apple’s Airport Extreme (802.11g). Glenn Fleishman has deduced that the chip manufacturer is Boradcom. Hopefully the base station firmware will be upgradable to interop with other chipsets. I like this part:
The new Apple Extreme Base Station supports access point and bridge mode simultaneously. Deploying several base stations is now a simple solution for smaller networks that need more client access is different places.
I also like the option for adding an external antenna. That’s what I’d do.
The Internet is Read-Write, not Read-Only.
Will Cox points to mod_rendezvous by Eric Christopher Seidel. It adds Rendezvous support to Apache 1.3.x under OSX 10.2 or greater. I really can’t wait to post an entry about a cross-platform mod_rendezvous.
Dave thinks we should write directories in OPML and publish them on the web. I wonder if there is any software out there set up to publish directories using OPML in a hosted (php/perl/python/jsp/asp etc) environment, preferably released as open source. I’ll look around later this afternoon. I’ve taken a look at an open source OPML module for Python. To get your head around the module, the source for Straw, an RSS aggregator for Gnome2 should help.
I’m not sure if there are similar modules or classes available for perl (didn’t see any at CPAN) or PHP, but there might be. It would take at least these (free/open source) building blocks for OPML-based directories to take off. I see that I can do OPML directories in Radio as well as Manila, but not everyone owns that software.
I keep invoking my imaginary free time, but I’ll try my best to look into it.
Further Thoughts: I think it would be really cool to take a blosxom approach. Just drop your .opml files to a directory on your web host and the cgi will take care of the rest. Of course it would probably be easier (for me) to take a command-line approach, but producing dynamic directories by dropping .opml files would be so sexy.
Also check out Rick’s implementation.
Matt Raible has some questions about Apple’s X11 release:
So now that Apple has released a beta of it’s X11 X Window System, I have a question for you? Do you use this? I downloaded and installed XDarwin, but have never used it (similar experience to OpenOffice. What can I do with X11? Can I run Gnome using X11? Do I have a use for it at all?
OK. That’s it. My next computer is going to be an Apple. After 18 years on a PC, I am ready to call it quits. Windows is waaaay too much of a hassle for me to maintain.
Excellent! Dave Hyatt, a member of the Safari team has a weblog and responds to Mark’s post on rendering quirks. RSS subscribed, baby!
Ask:
I just sent a bug report to Apple for Safari: “No tabs. I can’t open a new window in a new tab. Where are my tabs? I can’t figure out to surf the web without tabs. Please give me my tabs back. Can I have my tabs? Please don’t make such a cool browser but forget the tabs. Please put the tabs back in. In closing, I would like to add that it would be very nice if Safari could get tabs.”
There’s one way to address the issue.
So Apple is using KHTML for its rendering engine.on Safari. This begs the question: How easy is it to port KDE/Qt Apps to native OSX? It obviously can’t be too hard or Apple wouldn’t have done it. Have they secretly ported the KDE/Qt architecture to OSX in order to make their lives easier? How does Project Builder handle a KDE/Qt-style app? I’m rather ignorant on the subject, but I’m extremely curious. If you post about it in your weblog, email me a pointer on the off chance that you’re not on my blogroll.
How will releasing Safari for OSX effect the Apple-Microsoft relationship?
Here’s a question for the wireless tech heads in the crowd: How are the new Aluminum Powerbooks going to perform in the wireless Airport (802.11b)/Airport Extreme (802.11g) category? I know that the ibooks do quite well with Airport but the titanium in the TiBook decreases performance significantly.
Will anyone be on the show floor tomorrow to check it out or ask the question? That might be a deal maker or breaker for some people.
Aaron has a buncha cool Apple pointers.
Wi-Fi Networking News has the low-down on Apple’s Airport Extreme. I like the idea that if a particular 802.11g chip is not compatabile with another particular 802.11g chip, they can just revert back to 802.11b and talk, albeit slower.
RIP HomeRF. I have a feeling 802.11a will not be far behind…
The Big and Small commercial rules.