Canmore's Blog

Tired of all the fuss about Web 2.0, I decided to proudly announce Web 3.1459..., also known as Web Pi or Web π. Web 3.14159... is clearly superior to Web 2.0 for many reasons (i.e. because I say so).

More information about Web 3.14159... is available on a site that does not use JavaScript or Flash, but simply delivers its content.

If you want to show your support for Web 3.14159..., simply download one of the graphical logos (or design your own) and let your visitors know how hip you are. Domain owners might also create an appropriate subdomain and host some information about Web 3.14159... there.

If you like this idea, spread it around the intertubes and link directly to http://web3.14159.annwfn.net.

I finally released some old code I wrote for a University course. You can find it in the University section of my homepage. The programs are not really special and well-written (as is mostly the case when assignments with short deadlines are concerned), but I polished them a bit, sprinkled some comments over them, and added a big portion of love.

Something like that, anyway.

Since it is not explicitly mentioned anywhere, you need the OpenGL and GLUT libraries in order to compile these programs. It might be necessary to change the library paths in the Makefile if you are not using FreeBSD, which is, judging from the server's log files, unfortunately most probable.

Speaking of operating systems, a fun fact from the log files: Most of my visitors use Linux or Sun Solaris. Either that or somebody really has some fun faking the user agents.

The last update of my local ports collection was most annoying and unnerving. Here are some notes to dodge 3 of the bullets.

Xorg 7.4: Either disable HAL at compile time or add the following to your xorg.conf (assuming your keyboard is configured properly etc.):

Option	"AutoAddDevices"	"OFF"

Else, you would have to configure your keyboard settings (such as layout, rules etc.) in some obscure HAL configuration file that is hard to find. And to be frank, I was unwilling to create some XML files in a directory pretty well hidden on my hard disk just to get my X server to accept input from German keyboards. Seriously, what is wrong with the InputDevice section in Xorg.conf?

libxine: Don't compile it with pulseaudio support if you don't need it. I did compile it with that option and my reward was that programs such as Xine or Amarok would hang. Using the last of their strength, they would utter cryptic messages on the command-line:

caps.c: Dropping root privileges.

Since I did not need pulseaudio, I recompiled libxine, Xine, and Amarok and successfully resurrected them.

CUPS: Be sure to install print/gutenprint from the ports collection. Your applications and printers will thank you for it. And as a boon, you will not get any Unsupported format 'application/postscript' messages because all necessary dependencies will be available.

That's it. FreeBSD FTW!