Archive for April, 2004

I've updated the ImageMagick shell script I use to generate the various image sizes used by Pachyderm. The new version is a bit cleaner, and optionally takes parameters on the command line OR runs in interactive mode to determine source and destination directories. It also provides a little more feedback now, so you know WTF is... »

I've just enabled indexing and searching of .pdf documents on the Learning Commons website. We're using ht:/Dig as our search engine, and it's quite flexible. It can take external parsers to teach it to read non-text-only file formats. There are libraries available that can teach it to read .rtf, .pdf, .ps, .doc, .swf, .xls,... »

I've opened up a SubEthaEdit document to serve as a shared workspace for the Pachyderm training session today. Not sure if anyone's going to use it, but it might be a cool way to get a rough draft of documentation, on the fly (especially since most Pachydermers are in San Francisco, and there are... »

I've written a simple ImageMagick shell script to batch convert a bunch of images into the various sizes required by Pachyderm. Man, ImageMagick is pretty sweet. Installed in a few minutes using Fink, the I was off and running. I call this script to generate the images, which can then be fed to... »

Zeldman links to a page describing a Flash actionscript template that reads in XML and links .jpg files as described in the XML. A demo is available, as well as source code. Sounds like a modernized version of the Pachyderm templates. Going to have to take a closer look. »

I just got an email from someone asking about the wiki engine I used for the CAREO wiki stuff. He was wondering if there were any WebObjects wiki engines out there. I thought I'd seen one, a long time ago, so I did a quick Google for it. After filtering the usual noise (some... »

Michelle made a good point in an email. I'd overlooked the value of collaboration at a distance, because I really take it for granted now. I've been working with folks over the 'net for years, but much more intensely over the past year. The Learning Object Syndication with RSS presentation(s) (here and here) wouldn't have... »

Josh and I have been poking at the Pachyderm for the last few days, and have finally convinced it to do something other than stare blankly at us. Josh wrote some PHP script mojo to suck the Filemaker database (used to manage assets) into the SQL Server DB (used to author presentations). Works like a... »

Josh and I have been slogging through the Pachyderm installation/configuration process. It's been a whole lot of one-step-forward, two-steps-back, but sometimes things just kinda work. The commons thread we've come across is basically a version of "never, EVER use Windows on a server. Or, on a desktop, if it can be avoided." Anyway, we've got it... »

Grrr. I've been installing WinXP Pro for most of the day now. After switching back to the "classic" UI so my retinas stopped bleeding, I've been working through installing firewall, virus protection, SQL Server, IIS, etc... Holy crap. They must lock their engineers into a room and tell them to figure out the most annoying, non-intuitive ways... »