(The short story is: if you want to convert Google Calendar iCal v2 files to vCal v1 files for import into your Palm Desktop, use this web application I made last night. Please leave a comment on this posting if you use it!
If you’re interested in recent changes to the application, see the dynamic changelog on Google Code.)
It’s amazing how just when you really do need to put all your time into some deadline, you find the perfect WAB, better known as Work Avoidance Behaviour.
Err, I don’t usually link to the same weblog again in such a short time, but I just had to make an exception. Dave has written up an excellent account of his dalliance with the social side of picturesque Delft. Go read it by clicking here.
Timo Weingärtner has graciously offered to take over the maintenance of pam_pwdfile. Its development will henceforth be hosted at https://github.com/tiwe-de/libpam-pwdfile.
PAM, or pluggable authentication modules, is a very effective method by which applications can abstract the way that they authenticate and authorize users. Using PAM for example, a whole system can be switched from normal /etc/passwd to shadow passwords without recompiling a single binary, as was the case with older *ix systems. Linux being my OS of choice, I have had most contact with Linux-PAM, as maintained by Andrew Morgan. Please see the Linux PAM pages at http://www.us.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/pam/.
IMPORTANT NOTE: My patches have finally found their way into the XFree86 CVS (post 4.3) as well as DRI CVS. The version in DRI CVS has been greatly cleaned-up by Michel Daenzer and will probably propagate its way back into XFree86. What all of this means is that all current releases of XFree86 and X.org include the Radeon suspend/resume functionality, and as is the case with software, most users won’t even know it’s there.
This work evolved into the dri_resume code and was subsequently absorbed into the XFree86 code-base. This page is here for reference purposes.
This used to be the home of my driReInitKludge. However, Michel Dänzer made a far better patch based on my work and has since started a new branch in DRI CVS for the development of this functionality.
So, I’m now using this page to distribute binaries of this XFree86 DRI reinit-0-0-1-branch. What makes these drivers different from the normal DRI Radeon drivers is that they re-initialise DRI across each VT switch, meaning that you can do all kinds of neat tricks with X, including (but not limited to) suspending to disc and resuming whilst running DRI (i.e. 3D-accelerated X). There is only one caveat and that is that you should NOT suspend if X is running a 3D application at the time. This is very easy to check for.
I’ve been running Linux since 1993 (kernel 0.99-pl13 if I remember correctly) on most of my workstations and servers. I’ve had my idiot-zealot phase (“nothing but Linux is good enough”), but fortunately have left that far behind me. Now I like teasing idiot-zealots with comments about that shareware Loonix thing.
So for the past few laptops, I’ve been running Windows XP, mostly because this Just Works(tm) on modern laptop hardware. Linux really didn’t cut it when compared to XP: yes, you could install it without too much trouble, but getting 100% out of your laptop (suspend/resume, good power management, full support for modern GPUs, etc) is a different story.
On Friday, Eric and I went to Rotterdam for some easter-Friday shopping. Somehow, I ended up purchasing this beautiful machine:
It eats coffee beans and produces the most beautiful espressos, all at the press of a button. The cappuccinos are also nothing to sneeze it… in fact, that little silver ball thingy on the right mixes steam and milk (that it sucks up through its flexible tube) to create perfect foam with user-adjustable consistency.
My good friend, mentor and fellow alternative universe explorer (teehee) Dave bought me some of this whilst visiting two weeks ago:
This is beautiful stuff. Unfortunately, it’s very addictive, and I’ve almost exhausted my supply.
We had a truly smashing time by the way… we should definitely do more of those.
Kids.
You’re at work having a productive day, and you’re just about to start with a meeting that you really need to take part in. At that point you get a phone call that your cute-as-a-button daughter has regurgitated three days worth of lunch at the day-care and that you have to come pick her up pronto. What do you do?
You flip that huge red Infinite-Patience(tm) switch, smile, and go pick her up. After changing the N-th diarrhoea nappy (diarrhea diaper to the more American-inclined readers) that has been filled to bursting with nose-destroying evilness but has fortunately only started leaking, and having to catch yet more regurgitated dinner in your hands, you’re still smiling. When this happens again in a few weeks time, you just reach for that big red switch again.