kerneljack's diary

Well, I finally got around to emailing at least two people today (Evangi and
Christiana). Me and Sid are planning on chatting with Evangi tomorrow morning
around 11. I had a major headache getting Java under Netscape configured
properly while I was in Pakistan. As soon as Java would start, either the
browser would crash, or the Java class would fail to initialize. Well, I
finally managed to fix the problem after some help from a Pakistani guy on
the #linuxpk channel (of all places!). Additionally, I had to browse through all the old messages on Netscape’s news server before finding a solution.
Anyway, I now have Java under Netscape on Linux configured so that chatting
using Yahoo! chat should not be a problem. At least let’s hope it’s not a
problem tomorrow.

I got the following movies a few days ago:

• Dragonheart

• Dante’s Peak
• Sneakers
• Mission Impossible (x6)

I liked them all, but I think Volcano is better than Dante’s
Peak. I’m going to use x’s next to the name of a movie to denote how many
times I’ve seen that movie. I really like Mission Impossible, as you can see.

A few days ago I read on Slashdot that W. Richard Stevens, the
author of many famous UNIX networking books, and a person whom I (and
a lot of other cool people) personally admired and revered, has passed away.
It was really sad, and a lot of people wrote in to express their sorrow over
his death. I’ve read two chapters of his TCP/IP Illustrated: Volume II and I have to say that few books are written so clearly, and so beautifully.
Stevens really knew what he was talking about when he wrote his books and the
reader can feel this while going through the numerous lucid illustrations and
examples. I should have read more of his work, and I’m going to make sure
that I do. For those of you who are interested, you can go here to read his obituary.

There’s a really cool Internet Mapping Project going on at AT&T. They are working on creating maps of the Internet, based on different criteria, such as Map by network addresses or Map by ISPs or Map by whatever. The maps look awesome, and they are working on creating wall-sized posters and stuff for sale. If you use the Internet (of course you do, how else would you be reading this?!) then you should definitely go check it out. If you click on the map that’s at the top of the main page, it’ll take you to the gallery, where all the good stuff is.

And September 2, 1999 was the date for the 30th anniversary of the Internet! OK, all of you who already read about it in the newspapers, forget everything and get the real information from the following sites:

1. Internet Anniversary at UCLA
2. About the nerds who made it happen
3. A Brief History of the World Wide Web

And finally, the Linux operating system recently celebrated it’s birthday too! Check out this link for more info.

Well, well, look who decides to show up! Really sorry guys, I couldn’t find much time to update this page in Pakistan, even though I was mostly at the computer all day! And my internet connection here sucks … I need to retry maybe around 25 times to (maybe) get a connection (for 15 minutes only!). Yes, our phone still has that 15 minute problem. We are trying to get another phone, so let’s keep fingers crossed yes??? Damn, I really miss Yoda! I could have seen The Phantom Menace on VideoCD in Pakistan, but I decided to pass on it, since most of the VideoCDs are made from videocassettes! Their quality is pretty bad sometimes.

If any of you have ever created web pages, you will notice that I have switched from a frame-based layout to a table-based layout. That’s because I had a really big problem getting all the images to fit properly in the left frame at all possible resolutions. So I dumped it in favour of a table layout. It’s a bit confusing to create the table layout (especially in vi!) and that’s why it took me so long to change it. And right now I’m using GXedit, an integrated text/HTML editor as well as mail and newsreader written for GNOME. I’ve also added links to the previous months’ posts, so that you guys can browse the previous posts as well, if you wish. I put each month on a separate page so that I don’t end up with a really long page, with all the posts since the beginning.

As for going to the UK, I’ve already gotten the admission in Westminster, but I’m waiting for my residence permit to be renewed so that I can apply for the visa. Let’s see what happens there.

I went to Mosadia Plaza again yesterday, and I ended up buying speakers for my computer, since I left my stereo system in Cyprus and I also bought headphones since I can’t find the ones I used to have. I went to the Megastar music store nearby and (surprise) I found a new album by Alice In Chains, and I also got their Unplugged album as well as an old album by Skid Row. They were also selling the excellent Alien vs Predator game, for around SR 215! They must be crazy. I mean, yes, they are.

At home, of course, I don’t do much except sit on this chair here. I’m still learning GTK programming under Linux. I found the book Developing Linux Applications with GTK+ and GDK in Pakistan for around 350 rupees, which is expensive for Pakistan and that is: (hold your breath) about 3 Cyprus pounds!

I haven’t spoken to Siddiqi in a while, especially since the phone here is always busy and whenever it is free, I immediately try to connect to the Internet. Well, I don’t like talking on the phone much anyway. Emails are better, I think.

And that’s it for now. If any of you have sent me emails, I’ll try to reply to them soon.