Two Foot News

2005.07.28 More work with plan9. I'd like to write some router control scripts. I wonder if factotum would be able to help with the authentication.

2005.07.27 Writing this in sam on plan9. Just hope I can save the file. Plan9 might be fun to use, if I can just figure it out. I would like to use the grid stuff. No telling where this may lead. I installed plan9 at home once, but I never figured out how to drawterm into the server. There are better instructions out there now, so here I go.

2004.11.03 Here is an interesting snippet of javascript...

"speak".replace(/([aeiouy][a-z]e)|([aeiouy]+)/gi, 'ubb$1$1')

Now if the TTS system could only get the rhythm right...

2004.10.27

2004.10.22 http://www.ipodder.org Wow! Heard about it on Doc Searls' weblog http://doc.weblogs.com Great stuff! I'm rounding up equipment to get my own show on Podcast. I don't think I could do a daily show or anything. Just look at my record on this blog. But I could do an occasional show. I'm more interested in short features that other podcasters could include in their shows. I'd like to build up a whole library. Everything from sound effects, background noises, to short 1 minute stories about life and technology. I'll get the equipment together and figure out what it takes to go from raw audio (analog probably at this point) to a posted podcast.

Also, the Beetmeister project is starting to take off. More later!

2004.10.16 I expect to have a little more free time over the next two weeks, so I'm starting a new project. No details available now, just that the predominant color will be red.

Stay tuned!

2004.10.05 Well, Tuesdays come and Tuesdays go...

2004.10.01 Long hours are getting me down. Still haven't finished the shed. That project is about 1 month overdue at this point. Wish I had a good camera.

2004.09.29 Here's one: how about a Flash app that works with APRS? Do you want maps or tables? We can do that. I still need to build the APRS to Morse Code app. Soon, soon.

2004.09.01 Well everyone else is doing it... http://www.colorforth.com/cf.html http://www.karig.net

So here is what I would like to do: a bootloader that let's you select which partition you want to boot. A partition table editor so you can toast NTFS when you really want to. Abbreviated keyboard, semi-dvorak colorforth style, but you can switch to qwerty if you really need to. And why not write the whole thing in forth?

I guess I want a tool I can use to configure computers. That means adjusting the partition table, but also adjusting the partitions themselves. It also means editing the BOOT.INI file without booting into NT. Saving and loading partitions from the disk or the network would also be grand.

For the keyboard, I've tried colorforth and it is interesting to work with. I am more comfortable using the key marked 'H' instead of 'N'. I use my index finger instead of my thumb anyway. But I am starting to get a feel for a 27 key keyboard. It is relaxing, the fingers seem to do fewer awkward movements, even compared to the standard Dvorak layout. For my editor I will include THE style semi-modes. Say you holding down 'G' gives you cursor keys on your right hand's home row. I don't see why CF doesn't go out of RED mode when you press the space key. Seems like I only put in one word red, then usually want to switch right to green. I do miss regular expressions and line editing in CF.

2004.08.26 Worked KB8YQS and KB3KRN on CWCom last night.

2004.08.20 Did some more work on the modem. The line drivers (MC1488) aren't getting the positive and negative power they need, so I'll probably just pull them off the board. The '245 is working, bringing the A side low lights up the LED's on front. I was looking for some way to get an audio signal when it hit me, just run the speaker + line back (through a resistor and capacitor) to the input on the audio amplifier. Problem solved! So I just need to find some way to turn that path on and off based on line 4 (25 pin connector).

We'll not mention the other power incident.

2004.08.13 Plugged 24V AC into the modem. Soon the capacitor pops in my face, then continues streaming smoke until I unplug the blasted thing. Pyrotechnics anyone?

Luckily the compoents I really care about (MC1488, 74LS245) didn't get destroyed. Hmm, turn the 1488 into an audio oscillator, use the '245 to pipe the sound into the amplifier?

2004.08.13
Picture a rainy fall day,
where you wear a sweater
and it feels just right.

2004.08.04 Building a com-port morse code sounder. Hope to send morse code out the com port on a machine with no sound card. I'm basing it on a circuit from the cwcommunicator help file.

I built a double inverter circuit with a couple of PNP transistors last night. I was adapting a circuit that used NPN. Not that hard, just have to mirror image everything. OK it does get complicated. But I enjoy working with it.

Of course this is part of my grand design for a morse code APRS monitor. Getting closer!

2004.07.13 Build a voice keyer in Squeak. A project you can download and run. Hide your own calls in an encrypted object, or simply a locked one.

2004.07.11

2004.07.10 APRS Terminal: A box that plugs directly into the radio. Notifies you of nearby stations via morse code. Send text messages to stations using the telegraph key (the terminal converts to text for you). It can even DF it's own location, so you don't need a GPS receiver.

2004.07.10 The speakers on my computer run on 4 C cell batteries. They just ran down and I was going to replace them when I realized that I have a 12v gell cell with all the wiring to plug it in to the speakers. Hope they don't mind the extra voltage. I even have a tip-negative power plug (because I goofed another time) that I can connect to it.

putty over a 56K line is not the best way to write stuff. I should just edit locally and then use SCP.

2004.07.10 Communications Terminal: a box with a computer in it. Primary interface is a telegraph key and sounder. Can also do RTTY and PSK31. Connects to the radio audio in/out. Handles antenna and power also.

2004.07.06 That colinux stuff is not too bad. I'm running it now! http://www.colinux.org

2004.07.02 QSO at 8:15 with WM0L in Nebraska via IRLP.

2004.06.25 The agent runs on Windows 98. It serves filesystems. It has optional services including bootp and tftp. Perhaps it has an Xclient for setting things up. It does have a setup/admin tool via ssh. Perhaps the question is Samba or NFS.

2004.06.22 How about a network clipboard? Run the client and you can paste stuff to it, drag and drop files to share. Can also access from a web browser.

How about a Wiki editor in Squeak?

2004.06.21

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2004.06.18

2004.06.14

2004.06.03

2004.05.25

2004.05.24

2004.05.20

2004.05.20 Did I just invent that term? Perhaps... http://www.google.com/search?q=artiblog There are probably other artist blogs out there, but this is the first called 'artiblog'. See also http://www.google.com/search?q=artistamp

Artiblog: a blog consisting mainly of images created by the artist. Text entries are also allowed, as long as the main focus is a regular posting of images.

2004.05.19

2004.05.19

2004.03.27 Squeaking again. Smalltalk is a challenge but I really like the environment. http://www.squeak.org

2004.03.19 Spend the evening with my daughters and some friends on a radio foxhunt. Our team won! We'd like to organize our own radio direction finding events this summer.

2004.02.18 Did some virus recovery work. This virus would corrupt programs on all attached network drives. Installed McAfee VirusScan, had to then isolate the computers and clean them. Took some work but now the network is virus free.