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Well I got most of the interective mode setup, actually swapping the data out to file is next. Not sure where the fkBuild() function will lead but it won’t end up back into the mainLoop (hence the ForK prefix). After the thing runs assuming I ever sort out the PBI generation part it self things look good. The final thing to do will be setting it up to tell weather it is in batch or interactive modes. What I’m thinking is simple

appname /usr/ports/packages/All/package.tbz
Runs it in interactive mode, user has to set the data to create a suitable .desktop file.

appname /usr/ports/packages/All/package.tbz ~/datafile
Run as a batch job reading stuff from dtafile in order to process the job.

Thanks to dropping into #kde I found out basically how to manipulate the K-Menu manually. I’m sure it’s simular for making Desktop Icons because of the files. I’d just have to figure out how to set it up correctly not concerned with it though.

Once it’s complete and if ever fully functional it shouldn’t be to hard for a GUI program to work around its batch mode. That infernal QT Designer is still more then I’m up to handling without reading the manual yet.

AutoPBI

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Well I think it’s about 0300 hard to tell since I’ve been toying with my laptops time systems hehe. I’ve been working on a little gizmo to try and auto-create a PBI so far it’s going well. I need to sort out how to setup the scripts used for installing the PBI. At the most basic level it shouldn’t be that hard but I’m faced with a few design desisons.

Should I keep it to a srictly functionally terse or opt for an easier UI. Really I care more for solid implementations then flashy stuff. A few things I need to get done is making short work of the PBI.SetupScript.sh and PBI.RemoveScript.Sh files auto-generation. I’m not sure what to put in it really. I know I want to prepair the pkg_add and the binaries in it before offering a direct edit. A quick way to add “events” per say, i.e. an easy way of setting up dialog/kdialogs for use would be nice but that can wait awhile lol. If Kris Moore can anwser me how to tell in the script is running in text mode or normal (gui) mode. I could setup dialogs for PBI Text installs and kdialogs for normal click-n-run style.

I’ve got the code working to get basic libraries auto-populated but theres no support for auto-magic setup with GTK+ P.I.T.A. PBI Libbing yet and I need to start the code to quickly run each binary through it. I’m hoping to deside more on the UI before thats totally finished. I may be a newbie but I’m trying to keep each section very self contained and a good managible size as much as I can. I remember reading through some source code files a few K lines of C Code long and getting tired of reading after the first thousand or so lines. So I kinda learned keep it tight when ever I can. I’ve not figured out how to “create” the PBI yet. If possible I’d rather like to bypass PBI Creator all together and see if theres any way to manually setup stuff on the K-Menu e.t.c. Has to be some way since PBI do it as they are.

I remember there was a thing posted on how to make a PBI file for GNU/Linux so I’ll take a look at that when I have it ready to “build” some thing. I’m sure if I worked out how to create a PBC file ether using the Build-A-Function called pipes, filters and redirection or perl/ruby I could make it wrap around PBICreators CLI mode but .. Dunno yet.

What I want this to be, is a simple way to get started building the PBI. I’m not yet desided weather to have the port build from within the program or for a simpler design make one have to do a make package first or not. I also need to test to see how much find, copy, link would be the normal neccessity to setup after the package. Such as prepairing the manpages/configdir stuff. I’m not usre how to work out nabbing the man pages since they could be near any where depending on the app and won’t always be limited to the binaries names.

Really I don’t think I’ve had this much fun in a good while.

More PBI

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Well I’ve E-Mailed Kris Moore for some info, wonder what I may find out. Depending on the results it might allow me to make for a more flexible method of dealing with my PBI.*sh files.

I also might have a few ideas for making a “automatic” PBI creation tool that I will need to toy around with later. Not 100% sure how well it would work yet.

I suppose, if ya can’t beat them join’em. Then remember if it blows up this wasn’t my idea !

PBI Systems

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Well tis time to plan for war or for peace. I can only see two roads before me.
In a funky branch of science where psychology and history meet at a decision
point that breaks into two possible futures. At first I didn’t know which to to
choose but then it just popp’d in there. A man has great capacity for both good
or evil, it’s this choice that splits that destiny apart.

While one could harbor malice towards some thing is normal for a human, I have
none to use. I’ve long rejected such ideas in favor of ones that work. So, I
see that I must take the option that poses the least threat.

On one road, I see the changes to the PBI system to be used (read abused).
Using both volume and redundant checks of quality control push the PBI system
for all it’s worth till it ether busts or grows strong.

To the other, adopt to it and fight for its growth. Well ether way I’m going to
raise all kinds of bloody screaming if quality control standards are not
maintained. If Pkg_add becomes the John Doe of the PBI word proper auditing and
quality management is required. The number of times pkg_add PBI have leaked
through testing even when it was strictly a case for “pkg_add -f pkg.tbz” ==
You will be skinned alive being the accepted Community/Developer standard. Even
PC-BSD Developers would occasionally bend this rule and bypass auditing (or
worse…). SO what the heck, why not go with it.

This is a change I hoped to see come with a much stronger infrastructure and a
larger user base. Hopefully one done after proper documentation was ever
created. To be honest PBI documentation is kinda, uhhh scratched out? Yet how
does this change come to us ? By a loss of principals – it wasn’t after people
complained. It wasn’t after user after user put up requests on the wish list
only to be mostly ignored. It wasn’t after people yelled for a more traditional
approach, it wasn’t after die hard FreeBSD people turned there noses at the
idea. It wasn’t that a flaw was found in an imperfect system and a fix was
needed. It wasn’t that as it is the PBI system couldn’t work. It’s simply that
they would rather have it done NOW then later. Why work to make some thing work
the way it was supposed to? When you can just change the rules to match your
hand of cards ? I’m sorry but thats the way I feel – I don’t mean to accuse any
one and don’t.

We can now use pkg_add in PBI creation at a very small level because it’s the
easy solution. When a problem of commercial importance chopped up. Well excuse
me and my big fat Johnny Reb ass but I’m starting to agree with a few FreeBSD
sys-admins. A clean, functional, elegant design should be the end result. Not
some thing hacked together with chewing gum and cloths pins. Even after public
debate about the similar issues they didn’t care – they get a problem getting a
commercial app to abide by it and they change the rules. When I had “offically”
left working on any PBI I did so seeing a system showing signs of reform, one I
knew would stand. Now I see it caving in on it self.

Ok so we have to live with pkg_add app PBI full of libs not added ok now we need to think here. The pkg_add can only be the main app well if we draw that line very easy at cd /usr/ports/cat/app && make package && cd /usr/local/Projects/PBI && mkdir app && cp /usr/ports/Packages/All/app.tbz ./

Then we need to check this package to make sure it only contains libs unique to
the project or else fool around /w it and the +* files to make a new package to
force or risk breaking some thing. Ok thats good enough but what if we have
some problems loading a Lib out of /Programs/$1/libs at run time ? OK well
since the PC-BSD Devs say it’s ok to do a pkg_add of the main app. Why don’t we
just move that into it’s own PBI and pkg_add that after making the user install
it 😛 Heck The lead Developer included a handful of Linux RPMs to make one of
his PBI work since it was a Linux program any way (which was not pkg_add’d IIRC)

Now we have a simple case here – We need to test if the pkg is all ready
installed abort it with an error to the user. When removing it it would be nice
if we could do a fast check to see if any thing depends on the package, such as
user installed ports !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! und abort the uninstall
accordingly. I.e. Make sure for totally clean install/removal of pkg’s not just
force them in/out with a sledge hammer like a dumb fuku! Trust me I’ve seen it
a lot of times. It would also be nice if the user updated a PBI using ports if
we could just *remove* things from the PBI Uninstall menu.

Ok so that sorts that now. What about docs on PBI creation ? We got a few how
to make XYZ FAQs on the FAQ. Other wise it’s horse dung. For example one of the
best tutorials says to tarball stuff inside the PBI which is basically a
compressed archive all ready. Kris Moore tells me not to do that – any one see
that in documentation ? HELL NOOOO!!! So we see a few PBI using it that
followed that tutorial. I’m oh most afraid to go to the SVN if you see my
train of thought here.

I see a possible return to PBI Development if I’m made to live in this words
new concept of PBI. There was only a few reasons I never jumped off the boat
and swam for FreeBSD shore after learning I could live without PC-BSD. I saw
PC-BSD as the brightest hope for the future, not only for Unix on a Desktop but
as a real operating system, world class. That was one of the reasons I didn’t
just drop off the scene. So here I am for better or worse it seems.

I think I may start compiling a list of ports to prepare PBI’s for in this “new
order” try to get a mass production thing going once I have time to get every
thing ready op. Then let operation Justice-Rainbow commence, details classified
with only beneficial results for PC-BSD included. I’m not sure yet for this.

Do I really want PC-BSD to succeed in every way possible? Yes but can I support
a project I feel has issues with ethical, moral, and principal concerns I’m not
sure. Well ether way I hope www.pbidir.com will see so many PBI coming in they
won’t know what to do with, I only hope they are the right kind. The good kind
made with love and craftsmanship – not shoddy pieces of crap that brings a
Graphical RPM Installer into this new world. Some people know what my feelings
are about RPMs..

Sigh, even though I know I must follow the light course I think they would
deserve it if I took the darker path. I just can’t willingly do that….
(censored). I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. I’ve got studies in 6
languages + html/css, I want to install lighttpd/mysql/php on my FreeBSD box so
I can study PHP. I still have not set up my printer. I’ve got to redo a history
test that the USPS lost, least it wasn’t my final (upper 90s pass). I gotta do
a Biology course *joy*. I’d love to just set to work on what I want to do. I’d
love to just dive in to things and create the program I know I can do given the
right time… A strong language reference and documentation database and
inhaling a few dozen manuals, learning ether QT or GTK based GUI development.
PBI it and vola oh how I wish I had the time… With a week off if I didn’t
have School I could put a nice dent into a few things that really need them
done. C and Ruby are my friends, it’s time I get to know them better and have
a go with QT me thinks.

One mad Spider !

by

For the first time, the PC-BSD project has irk’d the wrong button on my panel. In what appears to be issues with commerical software being able to abide the same quality standards and “short-commings” of the PBI system that joe packager has to deal with. Pkg_add of the main program is now allowed in a PBI. So I guess if I wanted to make a PBI of Xine I could force pkg_add Xine and no one would care weather or not that pkg_add’d the xine lib(s) used in Kaffine and then deleted them when forcing a pkg_delete ! (Still in the hypo-theory field here). Still I find this un acceptible. Such a change should have been made all of 3 weeks after PBI’s started installing into /Programs instead of another area prefixed with My 🙂

In short they have had a lot of time to deside this but they do it now why ? To me it feels as if it’s because compiled Win4BSD can’t run that way or because with the PBI system as it is (now was) breaks it. Win4BSD does not look open source to me and I have no other problem with paying for such a program. If the program needs to be changed internally to run on PC-BSD as a PBI *They should do the Frigging work*. If it can’t just work right with the way a PBI installed program is supposed to because of the PBI system rather then the program. * PC-BSD is flibbing late about making changs to fix this ! *. In short I’m very annoyed that it looks as if a commercial project can make an Open Source Operating System bow down to cater to it in order to put their product on the offical PBI directory with a stamp of approval. It would seem Win4BSD Distribute the product only in binary form. The Win4BSD people all ready offer the Schweine of a PBI for download on their own mirror. Why should PC-BSD bend over backwards to get a pkg_add frontend PBI of a commerical product on offical mirrors. It makes no sense !!

PBI were ment to be easy to install/uninstall and not touch the system directly. Allowing oen to uss a pkg_add of say konversation but not adding qt/kde pkg’s via the PBI is one thing if done right. You also have to remove any lib’s from the pkg used in the PBI before using it e.t.c. to make sure which is another level of work on a PBI Developer. * a frigging nightmare for PBI testers as well if they ever forget to read the scripts before installing *. If you want a front end to pkg_add theres no reason to PBI it. Just use a KDialog ina install.sh file…

I’ve Contemplated removing all of my PBI installs (reinstall via ports) and demanding my XMMS, Megamek, and Blackbox+BBKeys+BBConf+BBPager+Docker PBIs removed from pbidir but what good would any of it do ? I’m only a PC-BSD user, a mighty annoyed one at that. I’m not the kind of person to “jump ship” when stung but this irks me. I’ve all ready tried to distance my self from PBI Development for my own issues but this is beyond issue. How to wage a war for principals slain by it’s founders? I’m not sure yet… Find a way I very well may. All I can say is I learned a very good phrase in German to day for what I have to say to them.

/* retracted */

This is not the last time my voice will speak.

BPM

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I’ve been busy doing a few things with my laptops installed PBI’s today, got a chance to try out BPM. That is the Bsd Ports Manipulator. It’s a development build and warns you as such on start up.

During the install it prompts you if you want to install the ports collection, I think it should only ask if you have not installed ports but it asked me any way. Reminds me I need to cvsup later. One fatal flaw in the BPM PBIs script is that it does not work on the PC-BSD 1.3Beta which changed from cvsup to csup. I posted on the forums about it. If some one needs to install the ports tree they can use the PC-BSD System program to fetch ports (via the “tasks” tab). K-Menu->Settings->System Administration if you care. There is also the portsnap method and CVSUP/CSUP for command line usage.

portsnap fetch extract

OR

cvsup -L 2 /root/ports-supfile

csup seems to be the same as cvsup on basic usuage aside from the name. On regular FreeBSD systems you can use a copy of the supfile in /usr/share/examples/cvsup/ if you set the mirror. PC-BSD prepairs you one for ports and one for system sources but theres more in that ^^ directory. Back to BPM

BPM offers us no configuration that I can find and seems to use a GTK+ interface. I personally think GTK is a nice look & feel but it doesn’t intregrate well with KDE which uses QT. All thats pointless to most users, just remember BPM dun’t look as pretty as Konqueror for all intents and purposes. It offers a quick check of all ports available, all installed ports, e.t.c. as well as the catagories in a left plane. A top right plane shows the ports in the catagory and the bottom right plane shows discriptions. Works pretty nice and looks sorta like ones E-Mail clients. One can also run a simple search. It’s just a standard search afaik no support for regex which also is not of importance to most users !

To install the program just select it and click the instal botton. You can break it into steps if you only want to do parts of it. I.E. fetch, checksum check, build, install, and clean. Just checking install does it all. You can click details to get a embedded console out put and even open a terminal from the app. It also supports uninstalling the thing. It’s very nice but lacks in a few areas.

No support for portupgrading/downgrading
No support that I know of yet for packages (maybe a plus actually 😛 )
No support that I know of yet for searching with Regular expressions

It does however give you a very nice simple interface to make installing software the FreeBSD way very easy. I admit for once I did sorta skip the EULA basically so I don’t remember the licensing terms other then it’s free to use. If it is open source it might be worth my while to look into this application more.

food time.

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Well after stints of packet loss and high pings with the ol’ISPs DNS server things seem stable again. Since I made a bit of a booboo when I uninstalled Gaim (pbi) to try to install it via pkg’s so I could try installing an X-Fire plugin and OTR didn’t go well. Note to self always use ports for any thing big ! I’ve been learning to live with Kopete. It’s got the level of configuration options one would expect from a KDE program. While Gaim feels like a super enhanced version of the old (pre trijon or w/e) AOL client. Kopete feels more like the regular MSNMSGR client. I prefer Gaim really, even the AOL client was alright until they made it bloat ware.

The biggest reason to use applications like Gaim, Kopete, Trillion e.t.c. is they support many protocols ! Gaim is plugin based dunno about Kopete. Generally a Multi-Protocol Instant Messenger (MPIM :P) Client. Should support the basics, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google, ICQ, IRC (if not the best clients…), Jabber e.t.c. Kopete is pretty well rounded but I prefer Gaim personally. After customing it to behave more Tabed IM based (ala aim style) instead of multi-window heck (bye bye msn style) it’s quite good. It *THANK GOD* lets you change the style of message displays – VERY IMPORTANT change it quick if you IM a lot, trust me ! Default font should be the standard for KDE in my case it was Sans Serif. To me it’s a no frills font, changed it to Bitstream Vera Sans for now. Usuually I try to keep logged into AIM do to a few issues with X-Fire on Unix/Linux/BSD/Mac 8=) Most of the [SAS] uses both and formerly AIM was required for member ship and a Live Ops Warning/Deployment system IIRC.

Really I think I prefer IRC which is good for a more casual chat. FRI IRC is more a “Chat Room” thing then One-On-One 111 commu for most usage (afaic). MSN’s ok, offical clients emotes were ok when I used it, if they are like what MSN Gaming Zone has now its great. AIM *had* a good client but emotes that sucked. What I like about aim more then msn is you can have an addy people can reach you at but they don’t need to be added to a buddy list to contact you. Which is nice since I prefer IMs to phone calls and one can always restrict it. MSN/X-Fire follow what may be a more traditional model. Only buddy list contacts can reach you. I’m tempted to try ICQ some time but I don’t know any one who uses it often, most of my friends use ether MSN or AIM but mostly we all settle on X-Fire haha.

Given some recent issues I’m very tempted to try and start learning Germain. At least to read/write it, I know at one point I was getting very good at reading signs in MoH =/. Germany has always interested me, in a number of ways as have a few other countries cultures. Maybe it’s because of my studies about WWII and military history. The Germain language I’ve never learned much of, like many people I pick up a few words here/there in other languages in passing. Needless to say its one of the countries I’d like to vist if I ever had a world trip. I wouldn’t want to live outside of the US but it would be nice to travel around the world a little. Any country that has H&K Weapons is worth a vist I’m sure 🙂

I know all of 1 or 2 words in Japanse, maybe same in Chinese. 3 or 4 words or more of Italian most of which I can’t say in polite convo and wouldn’t dare try to spell. Me and my brother are two of the only people I know who can say FU in another language hehe. Not that we do, I don’t and he prefers the English version just like our Mother (her favorite 4 letter word 8=) ). A couple of words in Spanish and French (more ladder then former). I know Italian, French, and Spanish are all very simular and learning one would make it easier to learn the others. I don’t know how many words I remember in Klingon, dang pronoucing those right are pesky. Most of my exp. With the German language has been from my WWII studies actually, so it’s mostly related to military words/terms. Not very good for a conversation really. Need less to say if it’s not a computer language I’m not really multi-lingruel. Being an American and a Computer-noid. I mostly encounter people that speak English or Spanish, ocassionally both. When online usually its ether French if they don’t speak english, some times Germain but more often German/English then French/English speaking. I’ve met about 2 or 3 people that are really good with many languages in my net time. While I have nothing aganst France, Germain interests me more <_< Being able to read the language and understand it would be my first goal, writing it second and being able to speak it properly would have to be done along side the first if I’d ever manage it. One thing I do like about my native language is that it’s so screwed up, any native speaker of English will know what your talking about. Sure US/UK is diffrent for a number of things, I remember a funny post Rouge once made about UK English taking over the world or some thing hehe. Yet the language is so nuts at least on this side of the pond. From some of the issues I’ve seen in translations I’m not sure how two people of the same country can understand one another some times, especially in a language like Italian. I know in the US people talk diffrent from place to place in prounced style and spelling but it’s not much till you hit slang. IMHO proper English makes about as much logical sense as horse dung rotting on the wall. So obiously with my opinions of my own language what harm is there in learning about another for fun and function ? If ones going to try and learn another language may as well be one that one may enjoy. I don’t think there is any thing worse then English unless your talking machine code. I’m also a kind of nut, I know C++ is more used but I know more C because I enjoy C better. I think I should start splitting entries because they tend to get huge and I usually edit them shortly after if I find a reason. Think I’ll start trying to learn the basics over the weeki. I’ve got a Biology test to finish, a history test to do again. The USPS lost it I guess b/c it didn’t get to the school. A “tea” trip in the morning s’like a quarter to 0400 here and gotta be out before 1100. Best go to bed before the dog disowns me. It’s funny, for some reason after about 2100 they start staring at ya as if to say whens bed time ! LOL Sleep, sweet sleep now if the ol’brain would shut the frig up.

rumble

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Well, I’ve had a good day so far. Managed to get in to the server and camp the admin with a few m8s and have a good time. We’ve really been getting a lot of abuse reports for some reason. Oh wellz I hope it settles down soon. Didn’t get to run my Sunday training session b/c I had to walk the dogs but at least we got some Elemental work done.

Been flying ’round Google, Wikipedia, and the OSI site. I love finding good stuff to read ! Spent most of the other day working on my logging app. It’s a simple gizmo mentn to read and write entries from the “Captains-LOG” file I keep under /var/log. Yeah I watched a lot of star trek in the day so sue me 😛

I’ve haven’t worked on the thing in awhile not since I started on the C Standard Library. That was a good while back. I’ve always had problems trying to implement functions analogous to the head, tail, and cat commands but I’ve made some progress. At first I tred to wrap up a copy of FreeBSDs src/usr.bin/head/head.c to include in the file, was kinda shocked I didn’t screw up. Moved every thing into a sub-dir so I wouldn’t lose the header for doing it. I managed to get a perfectly working head going if I called my program with the -t option and the file name. Other wise it didn’t work. I’ve tried toying around with the code and only succeeded in breaking it, well thats the joy of being a noob I suppose. Ripped it all out and started from stratch, got a toFP function for trying to readln the top of the file, based on the head program but alais problems getting it to stick it all on stdin. I’ll get it strightened out some day I’m learning more and more as we go along. When I first started with trying to convert my shell script to a C program the whole File I/O was bran new to me. I can all ready see how a ruby script would be better then C for this but I want it in C, it helps me develop my mind.

I’mg etting better at reading the code in FreeBSDs userland. I usually like to poke around a few things, FreeBSD, Vim, Nano e.t.c. If ya gotta be a newbie with out a teacher or a professional education. May as well get some good reading material !! I really like it, even if I don’t understand every nuounce of it now. I still can follow the jist of how its working. Plus the more I read it and the more I toy with my compiler the more I learn. Man, I’d love some day to try and pick up a language by just using a cheat sheet reference of it and playing around trying to see how it works by exploring it. I study many languages in varing degrees. I started with C++ because it’s what I had heard the most about. I don’t particulary care for C++ but it was a good start. To be honest I wish I had tried to learn SHell scripting first but I didn’t even know the word UNIX back then. Eventually in my bored lazy way of procastination I picked up enough basics of Perl to be able to read stuff better. I had a really old book about learning Java and programming Java Applets that dated back to like, the HotJava web browser. Way back then you needed HotJava or the soon to be finished new version of Netscape to run Java Applets ! SO yeah it’s an old old book but its a fun read. Learning about Java from it thought me two things. Java is a good language and I hate writting it. I love to see software written in Java but I can’t stand writting it and some pure Java programs are har don me peepers. So I learned to read source code a lot better but have only ever written a few lines of Java and don’t plan on writting many more without need !

C always held a bit of a wonder for me, I used to think “Hmm if this is C++ what is C like?” Well one day I found a little tutorial that introduced me to the language. The unusual sense of humor when trying to show the basics of a programming language kept me coming back to it for more data. Eventually I just fell in love with C, it’s so dang logical. I make no claims as to being able to code my way out of a paper bag in any language but I love C. It’s also fun to read programs sources and learn from it. Python, a language I had always been reccomended to try is one I tried to avoid. One time I tried learning it, when on a very rare for me vacation. The white space thing wasn’t as bad as I thought but I don’t like the language. Just not my bag, very good language to work with though. For some very odd reason, I don’t know why I think I must’ve been rumaging around Wikipeda and I desided to try learing Ruby. Yeah I was bored at the time so I had the time to start. My first look at Ruby was when trying to find just the right language for me to start in (people said Python or Java). I hated the site of Ruby code so I never tried it. Yet once I started writting it that day I started to like it. I find I can do a lot more a lot faster in Ruby the nother languages but I pay the price of not being familer with it the way I am with C. When I look around section 3 of the FreeBSD manual I know what I’m dealing with, in Ruby its not always the same. I love Ruby very much now and hope to consintrate my studies on C, SH, and Ruby. One day on a whim I popped over to W3 Schools and started reading about the fundimentals of HTML. Starting to get interested in XHTML/CSS now actually.

Not sure what my future holds for any thing but I remeber the simple fact. The better one reads the easier one learns to write. TTFN chores a shore!

vimrc

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Ahh what a day. I’ve spent most of my time ether on the forums or in my beloved editor of choice (vim). I desided for some odd reason to rewrite my vim resource files. I’ve more or less completed my ~/.vimrc file and will worry about my ~/.gimvrc file later. Really I rarly use the GUI off win32. I basically like using vim in konsole because I can quickly step in and out of editing, ether by forcing vim into the background (control+z, type fg to return to it). Yet because cmd.exe is the worst terminal I have ever used, poor if any support for cut, copy, and paste. Ignores the mouse for the most part and Windows has the tab completion of a fart in the wind. I’m kinda getting used to zsh’s after using tcsh so much hehe.

Heres my vimrc file so far, edited for a few things. The syntax is about as simple as a shell script or “vim script” but the ” double quote works like the # and // comments in most languages. White space it doesn’t care for but it does care about line endings. Since I share most things between Windows XP, PC/Free BSD, and GNU/Linux + several computers I have to be portable in many ways. I started the file on Windows with my file format set for Win/DOS end of lines (:set ffs=dos), vim detects it and uses whats there. I usually set mine as “ffs=dos,unix,mac” so I don’t have to convert my files End of Lines (EoL) when I send some one a text file. If I use UNIX eols theres no carriage returns in Notepad, it’s too dumb to figure it out unlike many many other editors. Sad through is you can always count on some one to have notepad or a simular editor. Gnomes editor and KDE’s KWrite are actually rather nice though. When I tried to run my now complete vimrc on PC-BSD I got a zillion errors and I new I didn’t screw it up that bad, infact only one entry was wrong. I quickly figured out it must have been the line feeds, the fact that I had just setup a keybind to strip off the pesky ^M’s you get in some files helped hehe. I couldn’t find any quick ways to convert the EOLs so I looked them up in Wikipeda and found a way to do it with pearl, I now have a pdos2unix and punix2dos script to do the job when given an input file name and an output file name.

I’ve been told customizing Vim can be bad b/c of having to work with standard vim/vi but I’m a fruit -> If I want Vim I call vim and if I want Vi I call vi. FreeBSD uses nvi for vi, not vim like some GNU/Linuxes do. If some Linux Distro doesn’t make vim start as vi compatible without special changes it’s not my problem. I learned to use vim with just the example vimrc file. After that using Vi was easy after an hour or two. I also remember which I’m using by the fact that I call vi as vi and vim as vim + the status line I keep around.

Lines that start with two “‘s are comments just for this post

"Terry M. P***** personal vimrc file

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Editing Options
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Don't be VI compatible - Keep this at top of file !
set nocompatible
""Setting vim to be vi compatible makes changes to make it more pure Vi, I don't care for
""this as this is VIM not VI, if I wanted a pure Vi clone I'd use one.

" allow backspacing over everything in insert mode
set backspace=indent,eol,start
""This makes life a lot easier, just trust me.

" Wrap text at n chars with a line break
set textwidth=80
set wrap
set lbr
"" To keep console portability I used to break my lines around 76~78 char
"" I'm trying this to make Vim more like other editors. Out of the box when  you write
"" a line two long for the screen it continues on the line below and is numbered as one
"" line. With these settings it breaks them like most other editors at my specified
"" 80 chars. Not sure if I will keep it but worth a test. -> Prolly good for Vim newbies

" Use spaces instead of tabs
set expandtab 
set tabstop=6
""I generally like spaces and monospace fonts more for indentation and coding.
""I do like using tabs for manually aligning data in a table in ASCII.

"set min # of spaces for numberwidth. It grows as needed
set numberwidth=2
""This keeps down the size used for the thing /w the line numbers. Defualt is 4.

      """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
      "Tabbed Editing
      """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
      set showtabline=1
""Only show the list of tabs when theres more then one. 2=always, 0=never

"set prefered line enders
set ffs=unix,dos,mac
""Type :help ffs for more info, can be set in GVIM via options menu.
"enable filetype detection
filetype on
"turn off ft plugin and indent
filetype plugin off
filetype indent off

"Enable syntax highlighting
syntax on
"" Syntax highlighting is very good, does stuff like making comments blue, keywords green
"" strings red e.t.c. Very nice for markup, scripting, config files, and programming.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Keybindings
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Use the ";" as a duplicate of ":" makes life so much easier
"for some odd reason it cannot be followed with a comment on it's line!
:nma ; :
"" I personally think typing ; instead of pressing shift + : is the way it should be

"F1 turns on spellchecking in current buffer
map  :setlocal spell spelllang=en_us
"" I only want spell checking for certain files so this lets us turn it on when we want it
"" and just in the current buffer (like file)

"F2 turn on line numbering
map  :set number
""I don't want line numbering unless it's a source file or a big document. Pressing this
"" key we turn it on when wanted.

"F10 rids us of ^M after carriage returns
map  :%s/^M/ /g
""You have to make the ^M by pressing control+v control+m for this to work.
"" Some times you'll get pesky ^M at all the EOLs and it annoys me - strip them
 
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"User Interface Options
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"Always show the status bar with file name e.t.c.
set laststatus=2
"" 0=never, 1=only if more then one file/buffer/tab
"Show %of file remaining in statusbar
set ruler 
"" I use thse two this b/c I like knowing what line/column I'm on un obtusivly + file name
"" and how far into the file overall I am.

    """""""""""""""""""""""""""
    " MOUSE
    """""""""""""""""""""""""""
    "Start with mouse support
    set mouse=a
    "Make pointer an I-Beam in insert mode
    set mouseshape=i:beam
    "Hide the mouse when typing text (GUI only)
    set mousehide 
"" I'm used to being able to scroll around with my mouse wheel :)
"" Try :help mouseshape to look at what you can do with the mouse pointer. X11 supports
"" more options then Windows.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"General Preferences
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Command history
set history=50
"" Remebers the last 50 commands entered via :command

"automatic re-reading of changed open files
"set autoread
"" Gotta test this, basically if you edit in vim and edit with another app. It will try
"" to re-read the file.

" Switch on search highlighting - use :noh to turn it off after a search
set hlsearch
""highlights all matches to a /search

"ingore case when searching
set ignorecase
"" just like grep -i "I guess"

"set cmd line size
set cmdheight=2
""This makes the command line at the bottom, where you see the ":" when entering commands
"" be 2 lines high. Not really important IMHO

__________________________________________________

Some changes I plan, if it’s starting with the GUI I’ll have it set it so I can right click on miss spelled words and correct them. you can move the cursor to the word and press z= for a list of corrections, and use ]s and [s to search forward/back. Some times I just scroll with the mouse when proof reading so this helps. You can do a :set “mousemodel=popup_setpos” to get it after you turn on spell checking. I want to set it up so I can quickly convert a files format between DOS and UNIX via F11 and F12, should be possible.

I’ve downloaded a few things from http://www.vim.org/scripts/ that I want to toy with. One was a pack of 140 themes for gvim gotta sort that hehee. Another was a Matrix screen saver. It’s pretty nice if you speed it up but on my system it makes me use like 50~60% CPU judging by GKrellm2 my favorite GTK Krell system monitoring app.

One of the reasons I love vim very much is it’s very relaxing to us. Since I play games often as I can get a good tactical one /w my team mates. I do plenty of running. Once the tangos know your there you gotta get moving quickly (Dynamic). So in the intertests of moving as fast as is safe and doing proper B and CB entries (Bang & Breach Bang clear). I have my pinky jutted out to hold shift many times. B/C Usually I don’t run all the time, I try to sneak about unless I plan on being Dynamic. So that and using my pinky to make capital letters puts alot of strain on my, now couple that with Escape Meta Alt Control Shift (EMACS) style editing. When I use my pinky to deal with capslock (hate that key), shift, control, z, and Windows. It’s nice not to have to strain my fingers or wrists. I find using vim very comfortable for long edits. It’s also so dang effective that I can’t stand many other editors. Its like the speed and power of Vi/Vim ruins you for other editors once you learn it. I don’t claim to be no Vim Master or any thing but to me its gotta be the worlds greatest editor. Vi is in the top 10 in my book but Vim >= #1 xD

The only bad thinkg is some times I press # instead of $. The $ key moves to end of line in normal/visual modes. While the * and # keys searches forward and backwards for the word under the cursor. One thing I’m looking at is a C Refernce that can be ran in Vim, might help me write files on Win32 again. Usually I prefer BSD for doing C work because I can quickly look up a routine via the system manual. After all Unix was written in C and so is largly FreeBSD and I’d reckon most of GNU/Linux which is infact made up of many languages afaik.

SAS Memories

by

SAS_Cpl_Spidey01, a personale history.

The first time I set foot in the ol’Training Grounds I remember following a SAS_Rct_Raptis around, A SAS_LCpl_Hollow and another LCpl_R some one where also on the server. That was roughly two years ago. I played on/off until I got serious maybe a few months before my Rct Tryout. I wasn’t yet sure if I liked RvS.

The next time I started playing on TG#1 I remember JB the cool guy with a AK47, Adze as ether LCpl or Cpl and a few other members. Bronco, DM, Count, Cobra, Blade, En4cer e.t.c. Some regular on the server by the name of Grayfox I think, thought me a few simple basics when we where on another Missions server. RvS was getting cool but I made friends in another game.

Later on I pop’d in when we had TG#1 and TG#2 going with RvS and one server was running Force on Force training (Advers HR/Pilot/Bomb). I hung around epecially amazed by SAS_Cpl’s Adze, Blade, and JB. Put in an app some months later, dropped away to join friends in another game awhile later. By this time I had an app in and was the only Non SAS member activly posting on the forums lol….

One day, I’ll never forget it no matter how hard. I remember Random and Coop were in the server. I was so excited to see how the LtCol and 1st LT played. They worked as a 2-Man element, other SAS and my self joining in from time to time. I was simply astonished by the way these two members played together so well. I started trying to mimic what I saw Coop do as #2 Cover man and it set my favorite duty. I’d usually try to find some one to give cover to and do my best. Awhile before I met Leon. Soon after I met Recon when Allystrike wa son the rotation. Not but least Matsuro 🙂

My next hop several months later, I remeber meeting a SAS_Trp_Wiz and SAS_Rct_Rand out of the blue. Wiz eventially got me and felt (Python) into some uber basic training. I spent a fair bit of time along side Rand who showed me a few things. I enjoyed very much when Rand and I did a tough map together working our way through the mud and tangos till we did it without rasing any alarms. I dropped for awhile for some league matches in MW4.

After some time I returned to RvS and Swat4 when it came out. At SAS_LCpl_Wizs’ advice I sent in a new app, I had cancled my origenal one b/c I had stopped playing RvS. I worked to improve my skill in hopes of being a decent applicant. The young SAS_Trp_Rand took me under his wing one day, showed me the basic training that I would need for passing a tryout. V-Coms, Movement, e.t.c. and helped me learn some Common Sense better then others did. During this time I spent most of my time training on TG#2 Iron Wrath with Rand, JB and Wiz and others hanging around. I played a good deal of S4 but I switched mostly to RvS so I could join faster. Blade got his Comp fixed and Wiz gave me TS Privs. British accents are nice. I soon got to know the members voices, ahh I remember wanting to strangle JB and Blade at first for confusing me. I wasn’t yet used to playing RvS with TS2 and there was plenty of jokes here and there at funny happenings on the server. Felt changed his name to Python and became a Rct.

Thanks to the fatherly guidence of a good Trooper and the faith of a new Cpl I took my troopers tryout and passed on the second try. Relish conducted it, Adze Soon the new Trooper Python was the perfect example, SAS_Cpl soon SAS_Sgt_Wiz a watchful mentor, SAS_Cpl_JB a nudging shadow when I needed guidence, SAS_Sgt_James my corrector, SAS_SSgt_En4cer a man of tactics, SAS_Cpl_Relish my Dynamic Instructor 🙂 I played more S4 and got to see alot more of CO Random but still kept around RvS and trained. SAS_Rct_Rasa and SAS_Rct_Leon aka “The Human Machine” where my training buddies. Around this period I noticed a few good lads. Coq_Rouge, Jso, SFC (aka Trp_Ghost), Fritz of Swat4, then another player we best know as Qwerty, and more I can’t remember everyone. I was hoping most of them (particually Coq & Fritz and later SFC) would put serious effort into becoming SAS members. During this time I know Taris and Moebious left.

Soon I became a Trooper, I worked hard to make my self the best I could be and still stuck around with my ol’training mates. Wiz was Sgt by now and I think Jay left around this time. One player I noticed really looked good was Coq_Rouge, I never knew if he had an app in but I liked his style. Soon enough in time Coq_Rouge became SAS_Rct_Rouge and then Trooper. Fritz became Rct but had to leave because of family matters. best damn Swat4 player I’ve ever seen when it came to covering. between the two of us, we could find an angle to cover any where. I sat in on several tryouts, attended some trainnig sessions led by James and Rand. I was generally a flounder as a Trooper IMHO. One day a greenish kid pops in to the server one Monday or so. He wanted a Tryout by Wednesday or Thursday. I tried to make sure he stayed out of trouble after he became serious. Soon he was SAS_Rct_Mando and made trooper after awhile. SFC changed his name to Ghost when he became Recruit IIRC. Dave came back from the dead Coop recruited Qwerty, Jso joined us and Qwerty left us. (to put it shortly). I met Darkwolf, SDSnipe, Sacer_Miles, Noer, and others. One day a man by the name of SJMerge dropped in on IG Olsons Estate. I was like WTH ether this guy was one of us or he’s like Green beret. Sure enough he was a SWAT officer home on pain meds from dential surgery and has never played so good again ! haha. I poke’d a bit for him to invistigate SAS and hoped very dearly he’d drop us an app. I was happy to see my friend Rasa become the first of us three stooges make JNCO (LCpl to yall). Eventially SJMerge,Hexen, Noer and Miles became Rct but much later on then this. Around this time after awhile LCpl_Rand dropp’d off the map. Some time in this period, Random stepped down and Heim became CO. Bronco left us and some AWOL members got took off the mighty page.

I met Lazkostriker and Foxthreat some time before or after but I was stopping to play S4 alot in the hopes of getting closer to training ops. Blade and JB became Sgts, I think some one must’ve sent GCHQ a few rounds of white russians because eventially Rouge, Leon, and Recon became LCpl and so did I. I resigned to the fact that I was given another chance, try and be helpful. I’ve done what I could. I lived to see desasitors strike. The “Sabre Incident” as I call it. Squabble between RSM_James, Capt_En4cer, SSM_Wiz, most of Sabre pissed. All three where demoted in the end, two trying self demotion /or resignation. GCHQ sorted it and things where water under the bridge. Shield had become CO a bit before this when Heim had stepped down. Mando left around this chuck of time requesting Vet from GCHQ and got it.

Fences mended and life continued. One day before or after Sabre our site got cracked and we fought back without sinking to there level – Heim even threatend to sick lawyers on him. You don’t want a Doctors lawyer after you !!!! That poor sods not coming back me thinks. Then one day a ruckus between the command structure aka the James incident. James was kicked out for disobeying Commanders orders about the Admin controls or some thing. Rand put forth his request to be removed from the roster after a few months abense. I don’t care to remeber or hear it put forward. Eventually this up roar ended in peace. One day Random made me cry, he went veteran. Noer became Trp, Fox and Lazko rcts soon enough Foxthreat was a Trooper. Blast him even as a new Rct he fitted in so well you’d hardly know he wasn’t born a [SAS] Trooper.

Wiz took care of the site, Shield kept order and joined the army and took care of liife while we grew stonger. Random returned, En4cer and Blade where home. We had a nice admin reform at a price of dear blood. I saw changes in the recruitment process and Sacer_Miles and Hexen become our gina pigs for testing it.

I saw my friends Leon and Rouge become Cpl and Recon go vet. Some one must have been drinking because I was asked to start learning about tryouts, after doing my first tryout I was promoted to Cpl soon after. I now work

Troubles with the site and idiots out to break into it caused problems, eventually the admins shut it down to stop attacks and Wiz rebuilt the site for us and eventually it was restored to working order.

This is as much of [SAS] history as I’ve lived through, more or less in cronological order with as many details as I can recal right now. I’ll probably edit in more if I remember it tonight, I also need to finish editing in my additions to my PC-BSD review before I post it in the PC-BSD Lounge.