greyduck.net

Looking For Quacks In The Pavement

Category: Geekery

  • Gnome from scratch

    The machine named “eng3” that sits in my office is a test-bed for a fully from-scratch Linux install. It’s currently based on Linux From Scratch version 3.1, and today I succeeded in building enough Gnome components to be able to install the Evolution email/groupware client.

    This is a big win, but the bigger win will be in making my new Palm Pilot sync with Eng3. I’m going to prove or disprove my theory that the current Zero hardware configuration is utter garbage, and is the reason that pressing the HotSync button makes Zero crash.

    Hell, I might even turn Eng3 into the new Zero if all goes well.

  • Speaking of birthday stuff

    Maybe it came a few days late to actually be a true birthday present. So what? It’s still the second-coolest present I got this year!

    A mystery gift-giver who asked to be kept anonymous left me a wonderful present over the weekend: A Palm m105! Woo hoo! I’ve been wanting a real live Palm Pilot for years now, mostly because of the growing hatred I feel for the WindowsCE-based HP 620LX I’ve been lugging around for the last few years.

    So far I’ve managed to hook it up to Zero, my main Linux workstation, and sync it to Evolution’s task list, calendar and address book.

    I’m so happy, I’m so happy… new geek toys are cool!

  • Progress Quest

    For all the effort game makers expend to create new and interesting game concepts, it’s often the simple and time-honored forms that make for the most enjoyable gaming experiences.

    It is this concept that makes Progress Quest such an outstandingly fun game. I can’t really describe it adequately. At least, I can’t do so without detracting from most of the fun of playing PQ. I recommend that you visit the website, read the documentation provided, and then download and play the game.

    Satisfaction guaranteed, or your money back.

    (Props to meshuga of #KNRK for introducing me to PQ!)
    GreyDuck’s PQ Ranking

  • CSS changes

    Not being happy with boldfaced links, not being happy with underlined links, I finally decided to use serif’d links instead. I think it makes the whole page look just a bit cooler, but then again I have no idea what “cool” really is.

    Anyway, I’m really done tinkering with the stylesheets. I have to get started rebuilding the journal entry display code from scratch so I can get rid of the tables once and for all.

  • Chat Link Activated

    Falling firmly into the category labelled “More Useless Things To Do With My Site,” I’ve made a link to my chat channel on the Entercom Portland IRC server. Maybe I won’t use it much, but it’s there in case I ever want to.

    If you follow the #Grey Javachat link, you’ll be taken to a Java-based web chat page. If you’re not into Java, or would rather use a real IRC client, here’s the info you need:

    server: mihoshi.kgon.com
    port: 6667
    channel: #Grey

    Or you can just use the #Grey IRC link, as that will launch ChatZilla or mIRC or whatever IRC client you have on your PC, assuming you have one and your browser supports doing so.

    Have fun. Don’t trash the place. Let me know if you actually use the thing.
    #Grey Javachat
    #Grey IRC

  • Ch- ch- ch- ch- Changes…

    You may have noticed that I’ve rolled the work from the test page directly into the main site. This has the benefit of improving appearance and performance as well as freeing me to experiment with the deeper levels of code without worrying about losing the cosmetic changes I’ve been tinkering with so far.

    I also took a step that should have been unnecessary. I moved the database to a server that’s much more stable than my capricious little workstation at the office. Performance may improve or it may degrade, but at least if I reboot Zero I don’t have to worry about losing the whole website when it happens.

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