LibraryPlanet: Linux and the C3:

Ever since I got my new Microtel computer, I have been wanting to install Mandrake 9.0 on it. Every time I tried to install it, I would get error messages. At first, I thought I downloaded some bad isos but eventually I found others had the same problem which Mandrake has identified. The problem is that the solution identified, if I understand the rather cryptic message, would seem to involve making a boot floppy. One of the aspects of the Microtel: no floppy drive. Oh well, until someone determines another solution, I have found it runs Windows and Lindows pretty well (and even Mandrake 8.2).

Here’s my comment on the comments page of this blog entry:

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that I know a few people that have installed Red Hat 8.0 on machines running C3 processors without a hitch. Greg Klebus is running a RH8 server on a shuttle cube computer with a C3 processor: http://www.freeroller.net/page/gklebus/20021002#my_serverlet_passes_smoke_test. I’m also running RH8 with Gnome and KDE on a Via Eden board/processor, which is a fanless compact motherboard/CPU combo similar to the C3.

Good luck,
–Matt

REST.NET:

Yesterday (and this afternoon), I banged out some code that makes implementing RESTful web services a bit simpler (not too much right now). Basically using a pattern, it will dispatch a specific URI to a specific method. This pattern is of course a regular expression. Each verb may have 1 or more patterns. If you don’t want to handle a specific verb, don’t put it in the verbs section of the config file. When faced with this situation the handler will return Method Not Allowed to the client. [via Scott Hanselman]

Tiki (the wiki) 1.1 (Capella) is out today.  The new version features file galleries, comments, featured links fixes, permission fixes, and general bugfixage.  Allow me to reiterate how clean the Tiki website is.

CNet/David Becker:

After years of research, development and marketing hype, Microsoft is finally set to take the wraps off its latest attempt to change the way people use PCs.

As long as it’s not a couple of grand…

I’ve been reading about extreme programming over at extremeprogramming.org.  It turns out that I’ve been using some XP ideas and doing some XP stuff without really knowing it.  I was completely wrong about other stuff.  I need to find an article called, “XP: Party of One.”

Brent Simmons is trying to raise user consciousness about RSS bandwidth issues:

But, since I’m working on a new beta, and bandwidth is still an issue, I was thinking of adding another feature—a note on the Info window for a subscription that says whether or not the subscription is bandwidth-friendly.

I personally think it’s a great idea.  I hope this makes it into the next version of NetNewsWire.  Other aggregators take notice.

Update:

Here’s a screenshot.

Especially friendly sites are in blue; especially unfriendly sites are in red.

CNet: $399 Gateway.

OpenBSD 3.2 has hit the streets!  Also of note is the 3.2 release song: Goldflipper.  It’s available in mp3 and ogg format.  Lyrics are here.  The previous two release songs have made it into a few roadtrip mixes of mine… [via OSNews]

Serious Instructional Technology:

Doing tedious, but necessary tasks today, e.g copying some Blackboard courses (5 minutes and counting for just one step right now).

Blackboard is good in many respects, but it ain’t that good.

I can’t say that I enjoyed Blackboard from the user end.  I was a student in a class that used blackboard, and while the idea was great, it seemed buggy and slow all the time.  I’m not sure if that was school or otherwise, but I didn’t like it very much.

Slashdot covers Jaluna-1, a real time operating system recently released as open source under a license derived from the MPL (Mozilla Public License).

Watch out for those computer programmers:

A software programmer at Autotote, the company responsible for the computer systems that collected and processed wagers for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup thoroughbred racing championships, manipulated software to trigger a winning $3 million payoff for a Baltimore man, company executives said today.

Doc Searls writes about his experiences on the Linux Lunacy cruise.

Phil Wainewright on web services:

People who build web services using tools from the big vendors are tied to deploying on the same vendors’ platforms. And I’m not just talking about Microsoft here. Despite touting the openness of the J2EE architecture and their commitment to open systems and standards, neither IBM nor BEA support any platforms apart from their own if you build web services using their tools.

Mark Pilgrim:

I need a break. Back in a few weeks.

Richard Caetano:

I posted some snap shots of my NUnit setup.

Nice!

I don’t understand why a Pentium 133 notebook still costs hundreds of dollars.

Paul Evans on Dealing with User Input in Python:

You probably won’t be using Python long before writing a program which needs user input. As a wide-eyed, innocent new Python programmer, you may naively expect that you can simply ask users for input and they will just give it to you….[via trick-or-treat into mark]

Charles Miller:

Dear Sun. By your own coding conventions, it should be arrayCopy, not arraycopy. Bastards.

xml-webservices.net has a nice list of free web services.  Cape Science also has a list of services that they offer.  eSynaps.com also has a listing of services.  I want more.  I want a minimalistic CSS-driven portal that will link to free or more importantly “open” services.  I might have to get off my butt on this one.

Some free to use web services that I’ve played with this evening include Web Services Tip of the Day:

Another favorite is xmethods’ Weather Temp service, tho it’s for testing only:

It’s a bit nippy here in Maryland right now.  The name TemperatureXP comes from a vb class I took.  I named every program that I turned in WhateverApplicationXP and it kept me amused.