Displaying the most recent stories under linux...
April 25th, 2003 (from Advogato)
FIDO's GPRS service runs flawlessly in Linux. I'm thrilled. Here's how:
Use pppconfig or something, it's a standard dialup connection with numer *99# and l/p both 'fido' - authentication is really done using the smartcard in the GPRS pcmcia card. As far as Linux, well pcmcia-cs, is concerned, the GPRS card is a totally generic serial modem, so treat it like one.
I spent a while looking around for information about GPRS support in Linux and while I figured it existed I found nothing concretely useful. So maybe someone will find this useful.
I called fido up and asked for the ppp information to use my gprs card in linux. I was put on hold for a moment, and a technician came on and told me everything I needed to know.
By contrast, when I've had to call Rogers up for problems now and again with my cable modem connection, the moment I say Linux they literally hang up on me. Some service.
internet
linux
168
words - permanent link - comments: 0. Posted at 19:45 on
April 25, 2003
October 27th, 2002 (from Advogato)
@echo off
mem/d|find/i "ANSI">nul
if errorlevel 1 goto :error
echo %0%1%2%3%4%5%6%7%8%9|find/i "/?">nul
if not errorlevel 1 goto :help
The opening lines to boggle, as I wrote it in DOS .batch in highschool.
Remember batch files?
They were the only redeeming feature of DOS. They allowed me to learn basic coding skills without getting any kind of compiler or trying to squeeze Linux onto my XT or my PS/2 (personal system, that is, not playstation).
There were only a couple of things you couldn't do without getting additional binaries not included in a basic DOS system.
Mainly, you couldn't sleep, and you couldn't read the keyboard once the "program" was already in progress. To solve these, I used a small file called "keytrap.exe" which was a whopping two or three lines long written for me by an acquaintance with a compiler named Chris Micali, and two small files called getkey.com and getscan.com which were 8 and 10 bytes respectively, and sleep.exe which I got off shareware.com eons ago, and have long since lost the associated license file.
With those tools I spent entirely too much time writing batch files throughout my years at NMH.
For the sake of sheer, morbid curiosity, I've posted a small selection of these batch files here. I strongly recommend NOT running any of them without backing up and quarantining your archaic little DOS box.
Note the existence of "random" number generation in some of those files, particularly the game of boggle.
alias.bat was my attempt to have something with similar functionality to alias in a variety of un*x shells. I had shell access from the computer labs and found this to be a useful little tool missing in DOS. Careful though, alias is a self-installer which makes sure ANSI.SYS is loaded and burrows itself in its own directory.
Once I finally bought a Linux-capable box, I was disappointed to learn that random numbers could be obtained across a large range using a single line in bash - rather than the 200 lines with a limited range of 1 to 100 found in batch - and that reading keyboard input and sleeping could be done without batting an eyelash.
It took all the fun out of scripting.
*sniff*
linux
376
words - permanent link - comments: 0. Posted at 19:42 on
October 27, 2002
September 26th, 2002 (from Advogato)
Democracy.
It is an interesting concept.
In two weeks time it will be put to the test one more time. This time it won't be a political jurisdiction up for grabs, a country choosing new leadership, or a province deciding its fate within a country.
Nope, this time it is a bunch of project members rating eachothers' performance and ability. Every member rates every other member between one and the total number of members of the project. Whoever has the lowest total number is the most trusted and seen as the most competent member, and becomes the project's leader. Whoever has the highest cumulative rating is assumed to be hampering the project based on his peers ratings of him and will be removed from the project.
There is no campaigning, there are no speeches, there is no publicity, it is simply a matter of the project members collectively deciding the future of the project.
When it is all over, the project's administration may look exactly the same as it does now, or the landscape of the project will look completely different and everyone will wake up scratching their heads.
Only time will tell.
linux
politics
198
words - permanent link - comments: 0. Posted at 19:40 on
September 26, 2002
