Matt Croydon::Postneo

Year: 2003

  • Kannel

    Kannel is an open source project to keep an eye on.  It is a WAP gateway that supports the bajillion different protocols that fall under WAP.  According to the status page, the following protocols/features are working:

    • WSP: connection oriented and connectionless modes.
    • WML compiler from text to binary form. Supports a number of character sets.
    • WMLScript compiler: Converts textual WMLScript source code to a bytecode format.
    • WTP: class 0, 1, and 2. Error handling is not very much tested, though.
    • WDP: Supports only UDP bearer (GSM data and GPRS), no SMS bearer suppor yet.
    • SMS center protocols: CIMD 1.3, CIMD 2.0, SMPP 3.4, UCP/EMI 4.0. Also: SEMA SMS2000 OIS protocol for SMS centers over Radiopad and X.25. These work for SMS gateway, not WAP gateway. Kannel can also use some types of GSM phones and GSM modems as pseudo SMS centers.

    This project could lower the bar for entering the WAP field.

  • Python Happenings

    LWN points to this weeks Dr. Dobb’s Python-URL and also recent happenings at Python-dev.

  • What’s New In Everett Redux

    Sean & Scott:

    We’ve just posted a new article that walks you through the new features in the VS 2003 IDE.

  • Universal Access Collaboration Expedition workshop #21

    Phil Windley is speaking at the Universal Access Collaboration Expedition workshop #21 on the 14th.  Cool.  I haven’t dug into the depts of the goog, but at the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much info on this.  Is there any way a weblogger like myself might be able to attend?

  • Web Services in 2003

    WebServices.Org has a group of articles about web services in 2003.

  • Red Hat 8.0.92

    OSNews kicks the tires on Red Hat 8.0.92 (Phoebe), the latest beta.  Hopefully we’ll see a more in depth article from them in the near future.

  • Cayenne 1.0a5-1 and Hibername 1.2.2

    Cayenne 1.0a5-1 and Hibername 1.2.2 have been released.

    Cayenne:

    This is a point release that fixes a few serious bugs found in Alpha 5 release, as well as a number of less crtitcal ones. This upgrade is really recommended for those using Alpha 5.

    Hibernate:

    Version 1.2.2 fixes a minor bug introduced in 1.2.1.

  • Brent and Shelia @ MWSF

    Brent and Shelia are going to be at MWSF.  Find them if you’ll be there, and don’t forget to blog about it so we can experience MWSF vicariously.  We need a new word for this: Blogcarious?  Vicariblog?

  • Samba 3.0

    OpenBSD Journal:

    More from The O’Reilly Network people. This one is about what is forthcoming in the 3.0 release of Samba. Samba provides file sharing and authentication services for Windows hosts from UNIX systems and is in OpenBSD ports. From the description of 3.0, this one looks like its worth trying out: active directory support and Kerberos look to be on the table.

    Has anyone tried this on OpenBSD?

  • Web Hosts and ISPs

    Kenneth Hunt uses pair Networks for his web hosting and likes them.  I used them for a few years before I started weblogging.  I never had any downtime, their email tech support was responsive, it felt like a mom and pop shop from when I signed up until I cancelled my service.  My account was on ando.pair.com, machine #45.  I had a hard time justifying the bills when I was only working a few hours a week during school, so I had to leave pair.  When it came time to put up shop on the ‘net again, Westhost was cheaper and several people recommended it.

    I miss pair though.  It was nice to see the company grow, to move to a bigger facility, and expand.  I felt the same way with CAIS (Capital Area Internet Service).  When I started using them as my ISP (shell + PPP, baby!) they were owned and operated almost entirely by women.  I think eventually they got bought by Verio and service went downhill, but for several of the early Internet years, they were great.

    Remember Trumpet Winsock?  Heh.

  • The Disruptive Web

    Jon Udell:

    If you’re creating a Web service that you hope will have a disruptive impact, the lessons are clear. Support HTTP GET-style URLs. Design them carefully, matching de facto standards where they exist. Keep the URLs short, so people can easily understand, modify, and trade them. Establish a blog reputation. Use the blog network to promote the service and enable users of the service to self-organize. It all adds up to a recipe for recombinant growth. [Full story at InfoWorld.com]

  • Cqure AP

    Along the same lines as “Herbix”, Cqure AP is a single floppy wireless access point distro.  It supports Prism 2-based 802.11b cards and most standard 10/100 NICs.  I’m a little obblivious on the wireless side, but this looks like a cool way to save a hundred bucks or so, or whatever a wireless access point costs nowadays.

    Of course if you use Cqure AP, you’ve got to plug in the biggest antenna you can find, cause you’re so that guy.

  • Pre-Bedtime Linkage

    Pre-bedtime news bits:

    • The Inquirer: Apple/AMD rumors continue.
    • OpenBSD Journal: NTP Basics.
    • Kerneltrap: NetBSD/Darwin binary compatability layer updates.
    • Use Perl; points to the latest Perl Review [pdf], which contains bits about parsing RSS with XSLT and other yummie nuggets.
    • Shelley doesn’t like the social implications of blogrolls.  I have seen similar things happen with Livejournal friends lists.
    • I’m going to hit a local computer show tomorrow in search of cheap stuff.

  • Mono News #(n+1)

    Here’s todays Mono news roundup:

    • Rachel has made Glade# use attributes so binding C# widgets to the designed widgets is now easier than ever. Alp has improved this to use implicit names as well.
    • Martin’s Mono debugger now has support for multi-thread debugging. Special feature: breakpoints can be defined in a per-thread basis now.
    • Daniel López has checked in his Apache module to integrate Mono and Mono’s ASP.NET support as an Apache module. Gonzalo has folded his new Mono hosting classes into this module (they are now shared between XSP and mod_mono). You can get the mod_apache from CVS (module name: mod_mono).
    • Mono Basic improvements: Marco has added support for more statements on the grammar.
    • Zoltan has posted his Code Coverage analysis tool for Mono.

  • Outlook Aggregator

    From: Matt Croydon
    To: Greg Reinacker
    Re: Outlook Aggregator

    Hell yeah!

    –Matt

  • Coloco

    Interesting.

    I clicked on an ad at Slashdot this afternoon.  At first I thought that it was an ad for Rackspace, but it was for a company called Coloco.  Aparently they’re fairly close to me in Laurel, Maryland.  Their prices seem quite good ($50/mo for 1U colo for example).  I might have to figure out a way to justify this.  I wonder if they’re looking for any sysadmin monkeys.

  • Herbix

    Herbix 1.0-67 has been released.  Herbix is a floppy linux distro that packs http, ftp, smtp, dhcp, and irc daemons and a boatload of functionality onto that 1.44MB.  Looks like a good thing to have in your pocket if you want to serve on the go without disrupting your friend’s hard drive.  Mor details are on the freshmeat page for Herbix.

  • Mail::Box

    Ripped from the pages of Use Perl; soon to be a TV miniseries:

    Over the last 7 months, a generous grant from the Dutch NLnet Foundation enabled me to improve Mail::Box: a large module for e-mail handling. Mail::Box is designed as modern alternative to MailTools, MIME::Entity, Mail::Folder, and many more CPAN modules.

    Now it is time to reconsider and plan for the future. I would like to hear which features you need more before you upgrade your (MailTools based?) applications to Mail::Box. Could you drop me or the Mail::Box mailing list a note why you are using (or could not use) Mail::Box? With a list of users, usage, and wishes, the funding may be extended. Other conbributions are welcomed as well.”

  • Other People’s Links

    Garth Kidd has a good Python roundup (you can run it on an AS/400).

    Mark wraps up a bunch of quickies in a post titled In Brief.  What, no boxers?

  • 3.141592653589793/and/your/mother’s/ugly

    Mark is an RSS bandit:

    Dare, we don’t bother validating version numbers. You could publish an RSS feed version=”3.141592653589793/and/your/mother’s/ugly” and it would validate. In fact, I think I’m going to go do that.