Author Archives: admin

Linux on the Laptop

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Following the unfortunate events surrounding my presentation at XML Prague (a fabulous event, by the way; you should have been there), I now run Debian GNU/Linux as my primary OS on my work laptop. There is a Windows XP partition, so far, but my plan is to use Xen and virtualisation, and run the Windows operating systems as Xen domains.

The laptop installation that failed contained my first attempts at virtualisation, by the way. Microsoft’s Virtual PC ran Windows 2003 Server and Cassis, the Document Management System that I’m part of developing at Condesign Operations Support, and was connected to my XP installation through a loopback adapter. In theory, this is a very nice setup since it is possible to simply run a complete image of an OS and the server setup as part of a demonstration and then reset it to its pre-demo state for the next show. In practice, however, Virtual PC does not deliver. The hardware it emulates is very limited and everything it does is rather slow. It was enough to wet my appetite, however (together with my friend Niklas’ obsession with Xen), so I decided to do it right, now that I had to wipe the old drive anyway.

My Debian installation does not yet run a Xen kernel, but I’ll keep you posted.

I Hate Windows

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This blog is about blame. Specifically, it’s about Windows XP. If you’re into the Microsoft-friendly thing, quit reading.

I held my presentation at XML Prague today. It seemed to go reasonably well until I was about to switch to a demo. I was in Powerpoint and meant to show a little something on the actual application, so I switched to Internet Explorer, or so I thought.

NOTHING happened. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nothing whatsoever.

Nothing. Can you imagine the terror? WTF?

I kept on speaking, realising that my presentation wasn’t up to par. Another demo opportunity came up, with similar results.

Nothing.

And that is what happened. Nothing. You explain this, because I can’t.

XML Prague Nerves

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XML Prague is only a week away so I’ve been working on my slides. I’ve done stuff on resource naming (links identifying a resource by name rather than location), markup, linking systems (actually only one, XLink), publishing, “document trees” and more, but it all feels deceptively simple to me. Right now, the whitepaper’s most important (and only?) message, use an abstraction layer such as URNs to always identify whatever resources you are using, seems trivial, even. The question, therefore, is if I really am that brilliant at what I do (I’d like to think so, obviously) or if the whole thing is so simple that it doesn’t need pointing out, in which case I’m in trouble and people will fall asleep (or worse) at my presentation.

As I said, I do include some other stuff in the presentation, but in my mind it’s all a result of the basic premise.

Or maybe it’s just me being nervous. We’ll see.

XML Is Progress…

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…but I miss SGML. I miss the time when any project worth its salt was up to a year or more but would still have to be redone from scratch to create something that actually works.

These days, companies expect these things to work right out of the box. Just install it, give it a week’s training and another week of adjustments, and you’re all set. I have competitors that market their product in this way, claiming that it’s all it takes. Funny, that, because what they are actually saying is that the handling of a customer’s most vital asset, their information, should require no more than a couple of weeks to be up and running but the product itself could take years to develop. Is it just me or is there something wrong with this concept?

In the olden times, things were never that easy. There was no DOM and there was no XSLT, and certainly no native, built-in SGML APIs to ease a developer’s plight. No fast track, no overnight results. Outputting structured documents on paper was not an easy task so things were allowed to take time. There was time to do a proper analysis, and time to perfect it while others were writing code.

Imagine having that time now, imagine having a year to do things properly. Oh, yes, I miss SGML.

Digital Landfill

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Digital Landfill is a blog by John Mancini, President of AIIM International Inc, “an industry association that provides document imaging, document management, and knowledge management solutions”. It’s very insightful, often very funny, and well worth reading.

I spent half an hour reading it instead of working, but don’t tell my boss, all right?

Another Take on TomTom and Linux

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Had some time to kill today, so I surfed the net, reading about my new GPS. Turns out that TomTom uses a 2.6 Linux kernel to run their hardware. It’s modified, of course, but it’s still a Linux kernel.

Why is it that there isn’t a Linux version of the software required to connect it to a computer, then? Why is Linux acceptable in the GPS but not outside it?

GPS

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I’m sure you’ll all be thrilled to know that my new GPS is working perfectly. It found me a shortcut yesterday. Shorter AND better. Well, I’m thrilled at least.

But Tomtom’s strategy of selling map update services borders on the indecent. The first thing I did when I bought the thing was to update the maps. There’s a “latest map” guarantee, see, meaning that within 30 days of purchase, I’m entitled to map updates. So today I logged on to Tomtom and it hinted that my map was old (God forbid) and that for only €XX, I could have the latest.

If I hadn’t read the manual I would have thought that there was actually an update available, and that it would cost me money. As things stand, I do have the latest map and this was simply a sales pitch, appearing to be a map update. It looked like the update thing I’d seen earlier, so I thought I would have to pay for this one. Made me angry and disappointed, and very weary of anything they say.

I very much dislike software with built-in sales pitches. I don’t mind buying services when I need them, but I do think that I shouldn’t be fooled into buying them.

TomTom 730T and Linux

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Bought a TomTom 730T GPS device today. Very cool. Lots of well-considered features, great design, just what I wanted. I’m really looking forward to driving around for a bit tomorrow.

But then, I tried to install the TomTom Home 2 software on my Debian (Sid) Linux box, using wine. Didn’t work. I spent an hour trying to get around the error message (a rather crypic message involving some file from Visual C++) but couldn’t make it work.

Yes, TomTom, I do use a Windows box, too, at work, but I was hoping for you to return the favour (I bought your product, after all, didn’t I?) by supplying me with software for the operating system of my choice. It shouldn’t be that hard to do; after all, you did come around to recompile your software for the Mac.

Aren’t more people using Linux these days than Mac?

Dolby CP100

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I got hold of a Dolby CP100 cinema sound processor. It’s Dolby’s oldest Dolby cinema processor, introduced nearly 33 years ago. I don’t expect to actually use it a lot, but I’m very tempted to install it in the sound rack at the cinema, just to freak out visiting filmmakers.

In any case, I think it’s the most beautiful-looking processor Dolby has ever made. ::sigh::