LegRoom.net Kick back and relax

I don't have much news to post as I'm out of town for the holidays, but I just wanted to wish everyone a safe and merry Christmas (especially those of you that are traveling). Enjoy the holidays!

It's taking longer than originally planned, but I'm happy to report that LegRoom v3 development is nearing completion. I'm still not quite ready to post a link to the development site (I still need to theme it, among other things), but since my last post about it in early November I've accomplished the following major tasks:

• Decided on a content management system (CMS)
• Ported static content (mostly anything that's not news posts and comments) to the new site
• Ported dynamic content (everything else, which includes news and comments) to the new site

Porting the static content took a while, as I needed to clean up a lot of the HTML and PHP in the process, but the real killer was the dynamic content. I had to write a rather long and complex PHP script to do the job, and while the results are not perfect (article formatting may not be correct, etc.), I'm pretty happy with the results.

The primary remaining issue at this point is the new LegRoom v3 theme. I also have various kinks to work out, but most of that can wait until the new site is operational. Optimistically I'm hoping that can be done before New Year's, but at worst I'm hoping by mid-January.

Stay tuned for a sneak peak.

I'm a bit late posting this (I believe it's already made it to Slashdot), but Michael Stutz recently published a good article on the IBM developerWorks site entitled, "Learn 10 good UNIX usage habits." From the introduction:

When you use a system often, you tend to fall into set usage patterns. Sometimes, you do not start the habit of doing things in the best possible way. Sometimes, you even pick up bad practices that lead to clutter and clumsiness. One of the best ways to correct such inadequacies is to conscientiously pick up good habits that counteract them. This article suggests 10 UNIX command-line habits worth picking up -- good habits that help you break many common usage foibles and make you more productive at the command line in the process. Each habit is described in more detail following the list of good habits.

It contains some very useful tips. I recommend that anyone using a CLI environment, regardless of your experience level, give it a read.

Full link:

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-badunixhabits.html

As found via Slashdot:

microbee writes: "On LKML's periodic GPL vs. binary kernel module discussion, Andrew Morton hinted that he favors refusing to load binary modules in 12 months. Greg Kroah-Hartman then posted a patch to do exactly that. Surprisingly Linus chimed in and called it 'stupid' and a 'political agenda,' and even compared it with the RIAA's tactics. Later in the same thread Greg withdrew his patch and apologized for not having thought it through."

Linus' post is a pretty good read on this debate. If you're unfamiliar with the topic, here is a brief overview. My personal take is that FOSS drivers are definitely the way to go, but being able to actually use my hardware takes precedence. If no viable (or comparable) FOSS driver exists, then I'd rather use a binary driver then simply not have full use of my hardware.

Anyway, as I said, it's a pretty interesting read. Here's a full link to Linus' post:

http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/12/13/370

SecurityFocus recently published a two-part article by Mikhael Felker covering security concerns with the password management functionality in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It's a pretty good read for anyone interested in such topics.

Here are the links:
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1882
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1883