General

I just saw my first kernel panic in Jaguar. It’s now a lot more “user friendly” – instead of white text on a black background, you now see a white box with black text in the middle of the screen telling you that you need to reboot and telling you how to reboot.

Here’s the reply I got when I asked why I haven’t received my paycheck yet:

Due to software problems last week, Paychex was unable to print checks. We

are expecting late today or at latest noon tomorrow.

Sheriff’s deputies soon will be able to see the picture of a missing child or the mug shot of a felon on the loose with the stroke of a key and without leaving their cruisers.

This will happen because of a $749,000 federal grant the Broward Sheriff’s Office will use to install a wireless communications system that can download large computer files such as pictures and detailed maps into the laptops deputies carry in their cars.

In a hypothetical terrorist attack on a large building, within minutes deputies would be able to view detailed floor plans, which would allow them to respond faster and more safely, said Phyllis Koch, interim head of the agency’s systems department.

“This has lots and lots of potential uses,” Koch said.

The grant is part of a larger initiative managed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. The program will distribute $62 million in similar technology grants to 294 law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Other South Florida agencies that will be receiving them are Fort Lauderdale, which will get $650,000; Wilton Manors, $225,000; and Miami Beach, $353,000.

The federal grant money covers 75 percent of the project the agency proposed in the grant application, with the agency providing the other 25 percent.

Koch said the Sheriff’s Office project falls just short of $1 million.

Broward sheriff’s squad cars already have laptops in them. But the new system will have 25 antennas installed throughout the county, which will be part of the wireless system. With the system, deputies will not clog radio channels that are needed for other vital communications such as 911 and running license plates.

Koch also expects the new system will make download times a lot faster without having to plug the laptop to a phone jack, or deputies going back to the station to get floppy disks.

Also, three of the antennas will be available to other agencies.

I wonder if it’s 802.11b. Anyone want to wardrive around Broward county?

Usability of Mail.app in 10.2. Jaguar’s Mail is one of the cleanest mail clients I’ve ever seen and has some great new features. I’m now attempting to use it as my standard mail client. Here are some of my tips & observations, plus a way to use it with Eudora for mail archiving. [MacMegasite]

I’m trying to use Mail.app as my regular email client by having it keep my mail on the server, and using Eudora to download & archive mail when my mailbox gets too big.

I’ve been spending the last few hours looking at Mail. I really love the look & feel of it – it’s the cleanest email client I’ve ever seen and has lots of really nice features. Unfortunately it’s horribly slow when you have a lot of mail in one mailbox. I used Eudora Mailbox Cleaner to import my email from Eudora. My carbon development list folder had over 6000 messages from this year (I archived everything before this year), and when I open that folder in Mail it takes close to a minute of spinning cursor on my G4/500. Eudora opens that folder immediately. There’s also no easy way to export mail to Eudora or anything else. Even though the format is supposedly the same, Eudora won’t open Mail’s mbox files (maybe changing the file type to text would work).

What I’m thinking of doing is using Mail.app for my normal use, having it keep messages on the server (note that if you use IMAP, it will delete messages from the server if you filter it to a different mailbox), and running Eudora every few days to download mail to be archived.

Here’s what Mac Net Journal wrote on the same subject:

With the release of the new version of Mail which is bundled in Mac OS X 10.2, I am taking yet another look at Apple’s default email application. I am trying to use it off and on today, but so far I am being pushed back to my favorite email application PowerMail by:

• Mail’s lack of keyboard navigation between the mailbox pane and message pane.

• Difficulties creating new Rules in Mail compared to other email applications (Why do I have to go into Preferences to create a Rule rather than being able to Control-click on a message and create a new Rule based on that specific message?)

• The relative slowness of the Mail interface, such as the delay when selecting a large mail box between the selection and actual display of the messages.

I am pleasantly surprised with the Junk Mail features of Mail, and things have improved with the program in general. I still miss labels in the Mail program, but I can see getting around that limitation with filtering or a set of mailboxes that reflect the labelling system I use in other email applications. The jury is still out… [Mac Net Journal]

I’ve finished installing Jaguar and everything is running smoothly on my G4. I did a clean install and then selectively copied the contents of my old home folder to the newly created one. Applications launch very quickly – rarely more than 1-2 bounces. PhotoShop 7 launches in 7 bounces and finishes loading in about 10 seconds. I can sync my Visor with Palm desktop. Toast & iTunes recognize my Que FireWire CDRW. My VST Tri-Media drive works. My Kensington Optical Elite mouse & Kensington’s drivers work with no problems.

A totally painless upgrade.

Wil’s way

Wil Wheaton:

“Copyright law is a good idea. It allows actors, writers, and musicians to create and own intellectual property, and hopefully derive a living from their creations.

As an actor and writer, I have a personal stake in making sure that Copyright law is enforced. If I can’t own the works I create, then I can’t feed my family.

The music labels, publishing houses and studios who release our creative works would have you believe that unless we strengthen copyright laws, their clever euphemism for eroding your rights to parody and free expression, all artists will suffer.

Don’t you believe them. As a negotiator for the Screen Actors Guild, I have firsthand experience with these men who claim to care so greatly for artists, and I call shenanigans. The greatest danger to musicians is not Gnutella. It is the label. The greatest danger to actors and film makers is not DeCSS. It is the studio. These corporate masters care little for the artists who are filling their 4 car garages with new Porsches and filling their private jets with fuel and “hostesses.”

What they do care about is controlling how you listen to music, or watch movies, and, increasingly, how you discuss and react to our creations.

Copyright law was best described as “a balance between expression that the owners can control and expression that is left open to the commons.”

Right now we are facing the complete destruction of that delicate balance. Corporations, and their congressional lap dogs, are doing everything in their power to ensure that the “expression left open to the commons” is forever removed, leaving only “expression the owners can control.”

That is a truly terrifying statement, which bears repeating: “expression only the owners can control.”

Right fucking on. Glad to repeat it.

[Doc Searls Weblog]

I just got back from the Jaguar release party at MacCenter in Ft. Lauderdale. I’m typing this on my iBook while I’m doing a clean install of Jaguar on my G4.

Even though I’ve had the developer seed (which I downloaded via my own ADC account) for a few week, I bought a full retail copy to make sure I’m 100% legal.

BounceWeb was having more MySQL problems today, which affected both MacMegasite & WorldBeatPlanet, as well as their own forums and all other sites hosted there. When I emailed them about it the last time, they assured me that the problem is fixed and won’t happen again.

I added error_reporting(0); to mainfile.php in both sites, so the next time it happens you’ll only see a message saying there’s a problem with the home page instead of a page full of PHP & MySQL errors. Hopefully BounceWeb will get their act together pretty soon.

Unfortunately I’m paid a year ahead for both sites, so I’d lose money if I move someplace else.

Of course Sept. 24 2002 is an important date – the official release of Jaguar. Here in south Florida, this date is in the news for another reason: the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, one of the biggest disasters in Florida history. I didn’t live here at that time, so I have no personal memories of it.

Hopefully Jaguar won’t be a major disaster 🙂