Hayden’s Blog

It’s been quite some time since I’ve updated this ‘ol blog… last time I posted was some time last year. Wow.

Quite a bit has happened. Let’s start with the awesome: Dad bought a new car.

Under the hood...

Angel Eye Headlights....

And, with the even more awesome: I get to use the old one.

2001 BMW X5

This has been my dream car for quite some time… I was thrilled when my Dad pulled in with the new one. His old car now becomes the “third family car”. And since I’m the “third family driver,” I get to use it. Hooray! I’ve already done a few things with it — including replacing the window regulator in the door (the little guy that moves the window up and down). With a lovely auxiliary adapter and Bluetooth audio gateway, I was also able to set up a wireless audio connection with my phone, which doubles as my MP3 player. So now I have the ability to hop in the car, choose a song/playlist/whatever out of my music library, and have it play through the car stereo. Neat. GPS from my phone works the same way — voice guidance playing over my music. Double neat. I’m considering ordering some LED kits for daytime running lights — like the angel eyes my Dad’s car has… but they’re proving to be kind of expensive. So maybe not. It’s neat as it is.

In other news,

I’ve taken up a Summer job down in Cincinnati with my relative, Matt. We’ll be working as day camp counselors for a local community club. Although it’ll be my first time as a camp counselor, I think it’ll be a positive and rewarding experience, not to mention a good way to spend my time over the Summer. We’ll be taking the X5 down there in a couple of weeks — my first long-distance drive without my parents, which I’m also quite excited for. I’ll probably end up visiting some other friends from Ohio while I’m down… something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. Should be fun.

On the tech front,

I’ve been working on a Content Management System to utilize when working with future clients, currently called HCMS. It allows for more customization over positioning and such than other CMS systems I’ve worked with, and also provides an extension system should some functionality not be present by default. After I finish this system, completing projects for future clients should be a breeze. Throw together a template, stick HCMS behind it, add whatever extensions they might need for specific functionality, and off they go. No more coding dynamic sites from scratch for a single purpose.

I’ve also been working with GazeboNews, and recently assisted in the launching of their new site, which now consists of a whole lot more than just news stories, as it did before. We’ve been using Wordpress as a platform for the new site, but the more we add to it, the more I think it’s the wrong direction to go in. Wordpress is meant for blogging (as I’m doing now). A series of posts with comments, maybe a few pages/widgets here and there, but nothing too fancy. This is how GazeboNews used to operate, back when they used Typepad and were limited to this kind of system. Now, however, they have the ability to modify Wordpress to suit their needs, so we’re bolting on new features left and right. The template has sort of become a mess (code-wise), and I’m afraid that things are going to break once Wordpress gets upgraded or some such. Perhaps once my CMS is finished, it can serve as a replacement. I don’t believe Wordpress is meant for a site with the kind of functionality GazeboNews has in mind.

Hopefully I’ll start updating this blog more often… although I know I’ve said that before. Guess we’ll see.

sloik2004 Events, Life

http://jaka.kubje.org/2007/05/14/unix-samba-password-sync-on-debian-etch/

This URL explains how to use pam_smbpass to allow synchronization of Samba passwords with actual Linux account passwords — making things infinitely easier for me.

sloik2004 Lab Notes

I spent a few hours today getting the GPS feature of my phone working properly… I don’t have data service, so I needed to find a GPS program that would store all of its maps locally. I ended up downloading and installing Garmin XT, which took quite a bit of time, but seems to be working well. My phone is really shaping up to be the all in one mobile device I invisioned it being when I first considered purchasing it, and I’m quite glad that its working just as I’d hoped it would. All I need to do now is find a larger microSD card and a nice case, and the vision should be complete.

sloik2004 Life

For some reason OpenSUSE 11.1 refuses to update to KDE 4.2 by default, but the one-click install for the upgrade can be found here:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/KDE4:/Factory:/Desktop/openSUSE_11.1/

sloik2004 Uncategorized

Setting default browser using *gconftool* (Gnome 2.0/2.2)
———————————————————

You will need GConf (and the gconf daemon running) to set this. If you
do *not* have the Gnome Control Center installed, there is a way to set
this using GConf directly:

See, which values are stored in that sub-tree. Save the output to a
file, so you can revert to those settings!

$ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/unknown
command = mozilla %s
need-terminal = false
enabled = true

Now, this should enter all those values (at least, they work for me):

$ gconftool-2 –set –type=string
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/unknown/command ‘mozilla %s’
$ gconftool-2 –set –type=bool
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/unknown/need-terminal false
$ gconftool-2 –set –type=bool
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/unknown/enabled true

Setting default browser using *gconftool* (Gnome 2.4/2.6)
———————————————————

This is basically the as above, just some GConf key change:

The relevant key on Gnome 2.4 has changed, but is pretty much similar.
Simply substitute “unknown” by “http”, especially in the commands to set
the values.
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http

Also, the “https” branch may be useful. However, this is *not* set using
the GUI method mentioned above.

sloik2004 Lab Notes

Found out how to do it here, it’s pretty straightforward:

http://techpatterns.com/forums/about865.html

1. Open up kde control center. [ the k/s button on task bar], select control center.
2. Select ‘Regional & Accessibility
3. click on keyboard layout
4. click on the ‘Xbd Options’ tab, then scroll down the list to: Compose key position. Make sure that Compose Key Position is checked. Now go down and check either right or left Win-key is compose. This will now enable functionality for the windows key, which otherwise isn’t used in linux/kde for much.

You have now enabled a key to control the creation of special characters, and you create those by doing the following:

Hit the windows key you selected, right or left one, one time, do not keep it depressed, then use the following combinations, after you release the windows key:

• ?? = ¿
• !! = ¡
• ‘e = é
• ‘a = á
• ‘i = í
• ‘o = ó
• ‘u = ú
• `a = à and so on…
• “u = ü
• << = «
• >> = »
• ^a = â
• ,c = ç
• ~n = ñ
• (c = ©
• (r = ®

There’s a big list of characters you can type here:

http://www.astro.ufl.edu/it/docs/intl-keyboard.html

sloik2004 Lab Notes, Uncategorized

Not literally…

I’m starting to stay up really late. A lot. On school nights. This isn’t good, but I find myself losing track of time and getting to bed really late. Sometimes I lose track of time, then end up completing homework really late at night before retiring to bed.

sloik2004 Life

I hate History. I avoid History. I do poorly in History.

sloik2004 School

This is going to bug me for days on end. Electricutioner came in to my Tribes 2 server today and informed me of a “minor oversight” he discovered in my mod. He proceeded to give me a series of hints, and respond to my incorrect guesses. A very, very shortened chat log follows:

{NOS}Electricutioner: Hah..

[Kr]_Sloik: ?

{NOS}Electricutioner: Oh… nothing.

{NOS}Electricutioner: At least.. nothing… major.

{NOS}Electricutioner: But none the less… amusing… I think.

[Kr]_Sloik: What are you referring to?

{NOS}Electricutioner: Just an… um… oversight… a laughable one.

[Kr]_Sloik: Could you give me a good hint?

{NOS}Electricutioner: No, but I’ll see how long it takes you to figure out.

{NOS}Electricutioner: And I’ll tell you when you fix the oversight.

{NOS}Electricutioner: Well, if it makes you feel better, I had a equally stupid oversight in ECM for about 4 years until Turkey told me.

[Kr]_Sloik: OK… code or construction error?

{NOS}Electricutioner: Code.

{NOS}Electricutioner: If you don’t get it in like 2 weeks… I’ll tell you.

{NOS}Electricutioner: Yeah… it’s so minor, you’re going to laugh and cry when you figure it out.

{NOS}Electricutioner: Oh, and I’ll give you a hint. It has been around for about… three weeks or so.

He speaks in riddles…

sloik2004 Lab Notes, My Games, Projects

Boy, a lot has happened since my last personal post here.

First of all, I joined the sailing team (somewhat inadvertantly, however). It’s probably a good decision in the long run, however. It gives me something to do, and my parents say it should help me get into colleges who aren’t just looking for someone who hangs out at his computer all day(/night). I’ve only done one regatta so far, which was kind of a bust due to no wind, but I hope to participate in more relatively soon.

Another recent event is a Tribes 2 mod that I’ve started, which I’m calling Krypton Construct. Krypton Construct began as a co-development project with another Tribes 2 player I met, named Netherdark. We named our lovely little Quantium Modification “Xenon Construct”. Netherdark and I had some conflicts, though. He wanted to strip everybody’s credits out of the mod, and I did not. So I broke off, took some stuff from Xenon mod, and started from scratch, using Construction 0.70a as a base for my mod. I named it Krypton Construct, and so far it’s going pretty well. Some features that set it apart from other mods are Permission Spheres, an advanced F2 menu with player preferences and an integrated save system, and Theorem, my lovely little bot who helps me administrate the server. Krypton has climbed the ranks of Construction Mods (if I do say so myself), and is up at the top with ACCM, ECM, and Metallic. I plan to make many more advances, and hopefully help it to become the best construction mod out there, but that is going to take quite a bit of work.

On another note, the Tribes 2 master servers are going to be shut down on November the 1st. That’s no good. Electricutioner, a coding mastermind, is developing a replacement for these vital servers that he says should be running well before November 1st. Once this occurs, we should have full community support, and free accounts for Tribes 2. This means that I can hand out copies of Tribes 2, free of charge, that people can play with no hassle. The popularity of Tribes 2 just might go up as a change… which would be great, because I never want that game to die. Hopefully this plan doesn’t backfire, but I have a high amount of confidence in Electricutioner, I think he can get this done quickly and intelligently.

I’m a Sophomore now. It’s no different than being a Freshman, except for the fact that I’m no longer hanging out in the basement for most of the day. I’m also taking Driver’s Ed this year, and I should be able to get my license right before the start of the Summer. Driving is pretty awesome, and easier than I thought it would be. I’m a bit ahead of the game, as I’m already driving on highways and such (even though we’re not at that point yet in the class room). The only problem I’m foreseeing is that once I get my license, I’ll be without a vehicle. I was considering purchasing a cheapo American-made car, but after talking to some family members and friends, I’ve decided that that’s not a good idea. Instead, I’m planning on getting a car of slightly higher quality. Now, my dad told me about his plans to eventually sell his BMW X5 and buy another newer X5… and a thought occured. If I earned enough money by the time he decides to sell his X5, maybe he’d sell the car to me. That would be the most awesome thing in the world, but based on my research, I’d have to get a pretty darn decent amount of money before he’d sell it to me. Like, at least $10,000.  That will take awhile. I’ll need quite a decent job to make that happen. Hopefully I can find a decent opportunity over the summer… but as of now, this idea is somewhat of a dream. Maybe I can do some freelance coding or some such….

In terms of school, things are a bit… weird. The Krypton Construction mod I’ve mentioned above is what my main focus is while I’m at home.  My main focus probably should be homework, but it isn’t, so my grades are… OK. They’re satisfactory for me, but apparently not my parents. I had a painful discussion with my Mom tonight after she saw my grades, which were all As, a couple Bs, and one B- in World Civ 2. She asked me if I needed to drop this class, which I took as an insult to my intelligence. This wasn’t even an honors course, and she was wondering if I could handle it. I’m still in rage over that whole argument, but I told her that the reason I was getting the poor grade in World Civ is because I hated history, which is the truth. I have always hated history. I think that in most cases it is a completely useless subject. What we ought to be learning instead is “modern politics” or some such. Something that will help kids actually understand the world’s current problems (of which is has plenty of). Doesn’t that sound like a better way to build our future contributers to society? Anywho, hopefully I can shift my focus a little bit more to my homework, because it’s kind of slipping, albiet only in World Civ.

Well, now, that was a long post. That felt good.

sloik2004 Events, Life, Projects, School