On Microsoft’s Contribution of Drivers to Linux

Microsoft recently made its first significant contribution to Linux in the form of GPL-licensed code recently. See the>analysis of Redmonk’s Steve O’Grady for a good summary: Microsoft, the GPL and Linux: The Q&A.
The best summary I have seen comes, not surprisingly, from Linus Torvalds in an interview in Linux Magazine, Microsoft Patches Linux; [...]

Opening Pandora’s Web Box

Here is a letter I sent to Tim Westergren, CEO of Pandora: [1]

Tim,
I saw mention of Pandora on Slashdot earlier today, and took it for a spin. A brief trial convinced me it was a good product. I then noticed the ads, and saw mention of Pandora One, so I decided to upgrade.
Keep up the [...]

Executables for SPITBOL for Microsoft DOS and Windows now available

The DOS and Windows ports of SPITBOL are now available on the SPITBOL Downloads section
The DOS version is S.COM. This is 16-bit 8086 version and can be run under Linux using the package ‘dosqemu.’
The Windows version is SPITBOL-3.7-win.exe. This is 32-bit version and can be run under Linux using Wine. You also need to download [...]

My First Computer: The Geniac, 1958

While poking about the web I located my first computer, The Geniac. See also this entry in the Old Computer Museum web site: Geniac picture
I can recall building most of the circuits, especially the one that played tic-tac-toe.
There is was a Geniac for sale on ebay: Geniac Vintage Computer Edmund Berkeley Simon.
I [...]

On restoring Ubuntu after messing it up

I messed up my Ubuntu install last night by wrongly deleting a package that was essential for network access.
Fortunately, I had a spare FAT32 partition I had created for sharing files between Windows and Linux, so I made a tarball of my home directory and saved it to that partition. I also rebooted into Windows [...]

Swanson Shields on Attending Funerals

I just learned via Google News of an item in the Washington Post so profoundly obvious that it is amazing the editors decided to publish it:
Arts & Living > Music >
Jackson’s Casket Expected at Memorial Service:

Michael Jackson’s casket will be front and center during his star-studded memorial service today at the Staples Center in [...]

One Million Lines Per Minute: SPITBOL/386 times for tokenizing and code generation

I’m making good progress on producing a version of SPITBOL for Linux.
One sign I’m on the right track is the performance that PC-SPITBOL delivers when run on Linux using Wine.
The translation is done in two steps.
The first step tokenizes the input, puts the operations in a standard form and drops the comments. This takes [...]

SQL No, Set Theory Yes

Slashdot just posted a story about a “nosql” conference, Enthusiasts Convene To Say No To SQL, Hash Out New DB Breed.
The “nosql” folks seem to agree with me that SQL is fundamentally wrong.
However, a quick look at some of the presentations to be found at NOSQL debrief suggests they are missing a key point.
The presentations [...]