Refreshing my long disused soldering skills. It's coming back (hopefully fast enough to do the DIY Bus Pirate board from Dangerous Prototypes that I have coming).

Who knew I would have to think about buying a camera to go along with a good soldering station? :-)

(18:42) [/projects/soldering] soldering101

Single sided boards are a pain. Fabbing would make double-sided boards possible, but it's kind of expensive for the first time out. Fritzing has been pretty easy to use, but Eagle is more powerful -- but has one hell of a learning curve.

(19:19) [/projects/wirelessmic] wirelessmic

Blowing the dust off of this blog, since I have new things to write about (have written about!). And so I have a place to hang thoughts out to dry.
(18:03) [/thoughts] startingagain

Converts to the MacGourmet import/export format.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to send them to me at mangiaconverter=ATSIGN=hotmail.com and I'll see what I can do about helping you out :-)

Be sure to read the README file from the archive once you've unpacked it.

Download the archive and extract it somewhere (like your home directory).

(18:17) [/archaeology/dev] mangia6

Converts to the Yum! XML import format.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to send them to me at mangiaconverter=ATSIGN=hotmail.com and I'll see what I can do about helping you out :-)

Be sure to read the README file from the archive once you've unpacked it.

Download the archive and extract it somewhere (like your home directory).

(20:44) [/archaeology/dev] mangia5

If, like me, you've been using the Mangia! recipe management program on the Mac, you're used to it's quirks and annoyed that it runs under OS9. But since it's flat out still the best recipe program I've ever used overall, it's hard to give it up.

Even worse, it has no export capability at all and it's database format is shrouded in mystery. Which means that all of your collected recipes are locked into an increasingly outmoded program.

Well, I have a partial solution for you -- you won't like it much and it doesn't preserve everything from Mangia! (at least, not yet). But you won't have to type in hundreds of recipes from scratch in order to move them to something newer!

Be sure to read the README file from the archive once you've unpacked it.

Download the archive and extract it somewhere (like your home directory).

(21:09) [/archaeology/dev] mangia4

I've upgraded from my old RG-1100 (which "just worked" right out of the box) three times now. Once with Linksys, once with Netgear, and finally with an Airport Express.

With both the Linksys and the Netgear, I could not get my mixed bag of computers all working at the same time (with the Linksys it was the Macs, with the Netgear it was the Windows machines).

Finally, I went for the more expensive Airport Express, and it has proved to be worth every penny. With the addition of Linux WPA Supplicant on my Linux mythtv box, my entire network is now using WPA Personal instead of WEP, and the machines with 802.11g run much, much faster.

Well, amost, anyway. My Windows PC with a Linksys WMP54G appears to work fine, at least initially, and then the connection just drops and is completely hosed when it reconnects. The routing tables look good, it gets an IP address from DHCP, it just fails to actually talk to the network. After two weeks up playing with drivers and plowing through multiple web pages that described various efforts to make things work, I finally broke down and bought a second Airport Express -- and after configuring it for WDS mode, I'm using and ethernet connection to get my PC on the network and everything is fine.

(02:34) [/archaeology/dev/wow] wireless

Well, to WorldofWar.net - The Unofficial World of Warcraft Site anyway. That's where to find the latest "release" versions of Fishing Buddy.

Random beta-ish version will be on this site -- no guarantees, use at your own risk, etc. Download the pre-0.7.8 version of Fishing Buddy in the usual fashion.

If you have comments, or suggestions, you can contact me on Windrunner -- Sutorix.

(04:00) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy8

• Add an option to leave off those pesky percentages
• Add an option to only watch the fish while you're actually fishing
• Update the version of OutfitDisplayFrame

Download the updated version of Fishing Buddy in the usual fashion.

If you have comments, or suggestions, you can contact me on Windrunner -- Sutorix.

(02:37) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy7

Found a serious memory leak (thanks to some smart people on ui.worldorwar.net

Download the updated version of Fishing Buddy in the usual fashion.

If you have comments, or suggestions, you can contact me on Windrunner -- Sutorix.

(05:24) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy6

Updated for 1.6

Download the updated version of Fishing Buddy in the usual fashion.

If you have comments, or suggestions, you can contact me on Windrunner -- Sutorix.

(16:16) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy5

A few bug fixes -- stole some more code from the newer version of TackleBox for finding the Fishing Pole "Spell" without having to translate it (look for the texture, instead!). The new version can now sort by fish, as well as by location, so you can find out where you actually have caught Stonescale Eel..

Download the updated version of Fishing Buddy in the usual fashion.

If you have comments, or suggestions, you can contact me on Windrunner -- Sutorix.

(03:30) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy4

Never test your own stuff -- you only see what you want to see, with the data you already know.

Download the updated version of Fishing Buddy in the usual fashion.

(15:13) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy3

I've updated it a little bit and cleaned up some code. Mostly added an option to just show me what I've caught this session -- much less visual spam and it tells me what I want to know.

Download the latest version of Fishing Buddy and enjoy!

(05:37) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy2

One of the great things about World of Warcraft and its interface is that you if you don't like it, you can change it. If it doesn't do something you think it should, you can add it. They've made the entire UI completely open -- well almost, there are some things where they cheated and the work is done in compiled code.

I had been using TackleBox and Impp's Fishing Info add-ons, but they didn't quite do what I wanted. And having looked at the code, I knew I could do better :-) So I shamelessly stole their ideas and put them together in something that works much better for me.

Thus, Fishing Buddy. It's actually two bits of add on code -- the second part is called OutfitDisplayFrame, used to show your "fishing outfit". The UI is brought up with "/fishingbuddy" (or "/fb") and "/fb switch" will switch you into and out of your fishing outfit. There will be more documentation once I've worked through all the bugs...

(02:35) [/archaeology/dev/wow] fishingbuddy

Between work and life, there's been World of Warcraft, which doesn't leave much time for anything else, let alone maintaining a blog. Even maintaining the blog failed -- I managed to destroy two posts!

Blizzard has done an incredible job -- it's worth the multi-year wait. The game has just the right balance of "toon" versus "reality" (whatever reality means in an online game) and it's presented consistently. Because it's so well done and, more importantly, so evenly done, it's very easy to fall into the "suspense of disbelief" necessary for a truly immersive experience. It's amazing easy to let a couple of hours slip by without noticing!

(18:35) [/thoughts] timesink

I forgot a couple of key points:

• The importer really doesn't do any importing :-) it's a set of perl scripts that convert the text output of Print2PICT into a file that can be imported
• The output format that's understood by A Cook's Books is "MasterCook" format (--format mc).
• To get the text output from Print2PICT (there's a local copy of the 3.7.1 archive here):
  1. Launch Mangia!<./li>
  2. Select 'Page Setup'
  3. Click on the 'Options' button
  4. Select 'Extensions'
  5. Either 'Search' for the extensions or use 'Select', but either way make sure the folder with the Print2PICT extentions is in the text box
  6. Close the Options dialog and choose 'Print to Text' from the dispositions popup (you may have to close Page Setup and try again to get it to show up)

(21:32) [/archaeology/dev] mangia3

An apology to all of you attempting to hit my blog over the last few days. A spate of nasty trackback spam attacks crippled the machine I'm hosted on. We've moved to a mod_perl server, so the attacks are at least less damaging now -- and blosxom appears to be continuing to work!

(19:49) [/notes] damnspammers

A few small changes to the 'Measuring Cup' format module. It's mostly a reference module for me -- the format that the Measuring Cup software uses is very complicated.

My brother and I have been using A Cook's Books. It's not quite Mangia! yet, but the author is a Mangia! user, so I have high hopes that it'll get there someday.

Download the new archive and extract it somewhere (like your home directory).

(19:03) [/archaeology/dev] mangia2

Happy New Year!

If, like me, you've been using the Mangia! recipe management program on the Mac, you're used to it's quirks and annoyed that it runs under OS9. But since it's flat out still the best recipe program I've ever used overall, it's hard to give it up.

Even worse, it has no export capability at all and it's database format is shrouded in mystery. Which means that all of your collected recipes are locked into an increasingly outmoded program.

Well, I have a partial solution for you -- you won't like it much and it doesn't preserve everything from Mangia! (at least, not yet). But you won't have to type in hundreds of recipes from scratch in order to move them to something newer!

Here's the steps from the README:

1. Install Print2PICT and make sure you configure in the 'optional' modules. We're going to be using the 'Print to TEXT' output format. Select Print2PICT in the Chooser.
2. Print out your recipes:
   • Select 'Print to TEXT' as the 'Disposition'
   • Select 'Large Type Layout' as the 'Page Design'
3. Untar the mangia converter archive into some appropriate location
4. Make sure that your PATH variable points to the 'bin' directory. In 'csh', for example, try something like:
   set path=($path ~/mangia2import/bin)
5. Run the conversion script, selecting an appropriate output format (running the 'mangia' script by itself will print out the formats available in thisrelease). For example:
   mangia --format mastercook Mangia\ 1.2\342\200\242Recipes\342\200\242001 > mc.txt

There are several things you have to make sure of:

1. Don't indent the paragraphs in your directions.
2. Make sure every recipe has some directions, even if it's just 'Mix well.'

Using the '-v' option, the script will print out every recipe title it thinks it finds. By watching this list, you can usually find the recipes that violate the above two rules and edit them pretty easily to get the whole process to work again.

Download the archive and extract it somewhere (like your home directory).

(05:54) [/archaeology/dev] mangia

After a her successful mission against pirates in Silesia (the second, if you count the short story "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington"), Honor is once again back at her adopted homeworld Grayson. Charged with building up a new fighting force, she is detached to escort an important convoy -- a shaking down cruise for her charges.

In the process, her ship is ambushed by the "Peeps" and she is captured. Now in the hands of her arhc-enemies, trumped up charges from before the war ("On Basilisk Station") are used to subject her to the death penalty. Suffice to say, her doughty cohorts manage to rescue her -- but in the process they are marooned on State Security's prison planet Hades.

This book is bleaker than the others -- but still an exciting, edge-of-your-seat read.

(06:37) [/thoughts/books] harrington7

In this book, the sixth so far, Honor is invited back to her Manticoran home fleet -- and her new mission is to command a squadron of "Q-ships", similar to the one she fights in the first novel "On Basilisk Station." She makes new friends and runs into old enemies, along with brushes with diabolical pirate kings.

Another good entry, albeit a little weak in parts -- but there is plenty of intrigue and action to keep the story moving.

(17:56) [/thoughts/books] harrington6

In the fifth book of the series, Honor is in exile from her home system and is welcomed to her adopted home on Grayson. As a Steadholder, Honor leads the latest settlement established on Grayson -- a planet with toxically high levels of heavy metals. She bankrolls a new project to make secure domes that are easier to decontaminate and her (new) enemies use them against her.

Even though you know that Honor will win in the end, this is yet another nail-biting entry in the a fantastic set of books.

(02:21) [/thoughts/books] harrington5

Okay, I admit it, I really like Neal Stephenson (both as a writer and as a person). I've read his other works (including The Big U!) and I was looking forward to this series. Through a bit of procrastination, a bit of luck and a tiny bit of planning, I've managed to read these three books pretty much one right after the other. These are definitely not "backpack books" (I had to bring other stuff to read on the bus) -- at nine hundred or so pages apiece they're a hefty load even one at a time.

This is an amazing historical fiction novel -- it covers fifty plus years of storyline and I don't think I can even being to summarize it. The book is full of science and adventure -- and history, of course. The places I lived in and history I learned as a child say that his depictions are accurate (albeit that was a long time ago) -- the atmosphere in the books feels right. Even if you don't care about the history, these books are still engaging -- and if you do like the history, you'll be fascinated. I had to go relearn all about Newton vs. Leibnitz and I don't remember learning about it ever being as entertaining as it's presentation here.

I recommend this set of books highly -- there's something in them for everyone. I'll be reading them again -- when I'm ready for another eight to nine week stint!

(02:32) [/thoughts/books] baroque

The fourth book in the Honor Harrington series is the most complex and dynamic so far. Honor finds true love for the first time in her life and then loses it -- by the machinations of her enemy, Pavel Young. Complete with politics and duels to the death, this entry has more cliffhanger chapters than any of the other books. Definitely worth reading.

(13:11) [/thoughts/books] harrington4

The third novel in Weber's "Honor Harrington" series gives us more details into the workings of the main antogonists in the seris, "The People's Republic." It's a little bit slower paced in places than the previous two books -- but it is still a page turner by the time you're at the end.

(04:19) [/thoughts/books] harrington3

(04:12) [/archaeology/cartoons] unspeakablevault

The second novel in the series follows right on the heels of the first novel. In this episode Honor meets new future allies and pivotal events that shape her future unfold.

Weber does an excellent job of showing two completely different societies and belief systems in conflict -- both of them are believable and well painted.

(23:11) [/thoughts/books] harrington2

As I'm sure I've mentioned, there are a books that I will read again and again. David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series falls into that category, in spades. I've had multiple copies of almost all of them (so far) and have them all in electronic format (which makes reading them on the bus nicer -- the next one is ready and you don't have to carry lots of books!) from the CD that was included in the hardback version of War of Honor.

The first book in the series showcases Honor's sense of duty and shows us glimpses into the past that makes her what she is. If you enjoy this one, the rest of the series will be a treat as well.

(02:37) [/thoughts/books] harrington1

I read the jacket blurb and was intrigued by this one. Now that I've finished it, I'm going to have to go read the others in the series, this one was quite good. Simon R. Green didn't ring any bells, but I was cleaning out some boxes from a recent move and I found I have several other books by him -- I'll have to go back and read them again (since I kept them, I must've thought they were worth rereading...)

(00:25) [/thoughts/books] simonrgreen

There are a few authors whose material I can read again and again. David Weber and David Drake fall into that (august?) category. Now that I've read a bit more of Eric Flint, he may be joining that group.

The book begins with David Weber's "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington" -- which sounds familiar, but was well worth reading again. I have always been a big fan of the Honor series (and I'll likely be writing more about that series as I just found them all again). The short story is a look into Honor's first cruise out of the academy -- something that's referred to a few times in the series.

David Drake's entry, "Choosing Sides," is just as gritty as all his other work and a nice addition to the canon.

I haven't read much of Eric Flint's work, but I very much enjoyed "Islands" -- I seem to remember reading something else set in this alternate universe, now I'm going to have to go track them down and read them all.

(14:27) [/thoughts/books] warmasters

Still under construction, between some complicated new pieces and the sheer complexity it's taking a really long time to put this one together.

(05:13) [/legos] tradingpost

I've read all of Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos series, devouring each one as they came out. The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After are the previous two "historical" novels that come before this one. I remember reading Alexandré Dumas' The Three Muskeeteers when I was young and these novels feel much the same. It takes a bit to get used to and it's worth trying -- it pulls you into the world presented much more forcely than you would think. This book continues the cycle with a two-hundred year gap since the previous book. Given that the protagonists are all long-lived, they're joined by their children in this one and the grand swashbuckling adventures continue.

(02:50) [/thoughts/books] pathsofthedead

I haven't read a lot of Bradbury, and after reading this I understand why. His writing style is distinctly -- unique -- and I can't wade through a lot of this very often. I could never quite tell where this one was going -- it's not science fiction, but it's not a mystery novel (quite) either. It felt almost stream of consciousness, but it had a very complicated structure -- it also felt like I ought to have a read a bunch of other books about the protagonist before I read this one, even though it pretty much stands on its own. If you like Ray Bradbury, you'll probably like this one -- but it didn't make me want to go out and find another one of his books.

(14:34) [/thoughts/books] letsallkillconstance

I've always wanted to know more about the Dead Sea scrolls ever since I first heard about them, but I've never followed up on that thought. Since I've been in that section of the library a bit recently, I went looking for even more background reading and found this book.

Detailing their strange journeys through the hands of Bedoins, collectors and museums since their discovery fifty years ago, this book gives a very nice overview of the history and scholarship surrounding the Dead Sea scrolls. I'm thinking I still want a little more exploration of what's actually in the scrolls -- but I'm really glad I found this one so that I can map my way with some confidence.

(02:20) [/thoughts/books] deadseascrolls

By and large, I hate picking up a book and finding out that it's N of a series (this one is number five). However, I dimly remember reading the first one in the series and this one does a pretty good job of not requiring you to know the first four books in detail. It has plenty of action and intrigue and was a fun read. There were even a couple of page-turner scenes where I couldn't wait to find out how it was going to come out.

(15:13) [/thoughts/books] goddessicerealms

This isn't my usual fare, by any stretch, but this time marketing made the sale -- the artwork caught my eye enough for me to pick it up and read the cover blurb. It looked intriguing, so I went ahead and picked it up. I'm glad I did -- it was a delightful change of pace and an excellent (albeit a bit convoluted) story. It's a frenetic romp with a variety of criminals through Florida with a wonderful denouement on a "Dinner Train" to top it off.

Since I had just finished reading Callahan's Con, which also takes place in Florida, there was a lot of interesting overlap between the stories' settings (although they don't have much else in common!). I definitely recommend this one -- I'm adding Tom Dorsey to my "list of authors" to pick up.

(20:11) [/thoughts/books] stingrayshuffle

I like both Gregory Benford and David Brin, and this collaboration does not disappoint. I'm not one of those people who pull books apart and try and figure out who wrote what -- but the story as whole hangs together really well. Tying lots of real and supposed science dealing with comets into a centuries-spanning story that brings to life several interesting characters.

In fact, by the end of the story there are a couple of characters who obviously have possibilities for sequels -- although thinking up something as interesting as this story to set them in will be a challenge. I'd like to read it when it happens though!

(16:11) [/thoughts/books] heartofthecomet

Brian Chontosh is one.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/chontosh.asp

http://www.google.com/search?q=Brian+Chontosh

(22:17) [/thoughts] heroes

Okay, my tastes have changed a lot. This is a couple of much older Andre Norton stories and they feel subtly wrong somehow. Not that the characters aren't well done -- they just feel like they were written decades ago (duh, they were written decades ago). However, I can still feel an echo of how I felt when I first started reading science fiction -- I'll probably go ahead and pass this one along to my kids, it's still a good set of stories.

(06:14) [/thoughts/books] starsoldiers