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Just a few notes from the 2009-11-10 PLUG N meeting. This got longer
than I expected (who, me?), so:
Contents:
Thanks to Brian
Q&A: Task management/Tools/GTD
UnxUtils for Windows
Logcheck
bash Resources
bash Cookbook Timeline
First, thanks to Brian for a really neat discussion of GIS & tools.
Cool stuff!
As for the task management discussion, I second Kevin on David Allen's
book _Getting Things Done_ (GTD). That was a great help for me for
paper filing, though I use only hanging folders instead of only regular
ones. For me that was a lot neater, and you can tweak the label
location to make it easier to find common folders.
GTD's other ideas about task/project management were also very useful.
My problem is my implementation rather than the ideas. There is a fair
amount of GTD software out there and I've taken brief looks but never
found a killer (small, free, cross-platform). Lifehacker.com has a
bunch of stuff.
I originally kludged together a system using flat ASCII text files with
a specific header structure and a batch file (yes, a batch file, though
I have a bash version too :) to tie things together. That worked, but I
found myself losing track of daily/weekly plans. I added another file
for that, but that became too much of an unorganized mess of a dumping
ground. Then I found Notecase in the Ubuntu repos. It's a GTK
cross-platform hierarchical "outliner" (unmaintained upstream, "portable
Windows version available) that stores everything in a single
XML file. That was helpful and still more-or-less grepable but lead to
even more fragmentation.
I should also mention I added other grepable flat files for things like:
change control, interesting packages/apps, clues, and bug reports I
filed. That part works great. As long as you have grep and some other
tools (see below) a tabbed editor and a dual-pane file browser (tabs
help too) you are set.
So my main problem is the I end up with duplicated and fragmented items
in Notecase and the flat files. I can probably solve that by refining
my process and being more disciplined. I was just hoping the someone
had found a nicer solution.
Related to tools, my klunky batch file relies on some Unix text utils.
I use and love the UnxUtils, see my post
http://lists.netisland.net/archives/plug/plug-2007-09/msg00280.html for
details.
Central logging and 'logcheck' came up at dinner. It's in the Debian
and Ubuntu repos, and see
http://lists.netisland.net/archives/plug/plug-2009-03/msg00190.html for
more details and my cheesy Windows port. See also my article at
http://debaday.debian.net/2009/07/19/logcheck-brilliantly-simple-log-monitoring/.
The context at dinner was FreeBSD and it looks like its in there too:
http://www.catskillweb.net/kb/article.php?id=064
Finally, also at dinner we were talking about some bash resources, such
as the excellent "Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide" and the official bash
docs and examples, see my book site, especially "The Comprehensive List
of bash Reference Documentation and Examples" at
http://www.bashcookbook.com/bashinfo/.
Questions about the book timeline also came up and we never finished
that conversation. I thought I'd put the timeline in one of my PLUG
presos (http://www.phillylinux.org/talks.html), but I didn't. So, if
anyone is interested:
Book Timeline
2004-11-30 JP sends email to O'Reilly and proposes "How about a Bash
cookbook?"
2005-03-24 Mike (editor) gets in touch
2005-04-01 Cameron (author of Learning the bash Shell) is added
2005-05-02 Submit second draft of ToC/outline
2005-0[89]* More drafts of the ToC/outline
2005-09-13 Carl is added after suggesting the same book
2005-10-01 Start learning/writing in OR wiki
2005-10* Submit first proposal, various revisions, contract discussion
2005-10-20 Get contract
Schedule:
2005-11-30 3 chapters
2006-01-31 1/2 chapters
2006-05-31 First draft
2006-02-13 Got first advance check
[big gap due to some technical issues]
2006-07-13 Move to OpenOffice.org Writer and deployed server/SVN
2006-12-18 Submit real first draft (for technical reviewers)
2006-12-18 Ship PDF draft (450 pages) to technical reviewers
2007-01-15 Technical Reviews due, give or take
2007-01-12 Got second/third advance check
2007-02-01 Submit copyediting draft
2007-02* Copyediting
2007-02-15 Got last advance check
2007-03-14 Draft from copyeditor to production
2007-03-27 Get PDFs for QC1
2007-03-29 Get FedEx of QC1 hardcopy (printouts of the QC1 PDFs)
2007-04-10 QC1 due back to O'Reilly
2007-04-25 Index (post QC1, pre QC2)
2007-05-03 QC2 review (PDF)
2007-05-11 Book goes to the printer!!!
This looks like a long time, but there are a few places where nothing
much happed for various reasons. I should also mention I loved working
with Mike and O'Reilly and hope to do so again.
Hope some of this is useful,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP |:::======| http://bashcookbook.com/
My Account, My Opinions |=========| http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
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