Friday, November 19, 2004

Pan status update

Heyyy, I finally got some time on the net. Here are the latest updates:
  • The grouplist UI is mostly done.
  • Cleaned up some code.
  • Delayed DB update of groups and articles almost done. All it needs is the actual DB update.
  • Added a global shutdown signal for cleanup purposes.
At least I've managed to make some progress.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Pan

Pan is a GTK+ based usenet news reader for Linux and Windows. Development has been kinda slow for the past year or so. There was so talk of converting the back end to use a DB for storing the article overviews, but nothing made it into cvs. I decided a few months ago to try to do the conversion myself. Since I'm about to do some traveling I've decided to post any progress updates here.

Most of the back-end work is already done, at least I think it is. I still have UI, threading, and networking code to do. Those will probably require some changes to the code I've already written.

P.S.
The version of GTK+ that I'm using on windows can be found here.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

CableCard

CableCard is a spec/device that allows third party devices such as TVs and DVRs to access the digital content served by the cable companies without using a set-top box. Sounds good right? Or is it, a new 2-way CableCard spec is on the way that is physically incompatible with with current CableCards.

The orignal CableCard which is in use only supports accessing and decoding digtal content. It does not support 2-way services such as PPV, interactive program guides, season pass sports, or interactive/enhanced TV services (games, interactive news, etc.). This is were the new 2-way CableCard comes in. While it will support these features don't expect to see such devices until 2006.

To buy or not to buy that is the question. The advantage of third party over a provided set-top box is quality. The third party devices can have better decoders and image scalers to produce better pictures. The only thing I would miss is the program guide. A CacleCard DVR would probably use either the Tivo or Replay service so they would not need the 2-way version. It's the high cost of the new TVs, CableCard or not, that's keeping me from buying right now.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Zodiac

I've had my Zodiac1 pda for a couple of weeks. It's a PalmOS device with some nice gaming enhancments. The only game I've actually bought for it so far is Legacy, an old school D&D type game. I just added an SD card yesterday and moved my games and apps to it. Legacy was even able to use the two expansion packs I put on the card. This is usefull since the few games I have used up most of the Zs RAM, now I'm back to 15MB free. The other games are freejong, acid solitaire, stuntcar extreme, and demos of breakout and paintball.