The force is still with me (I hope)

Connecting your Windows Mobile 2005 device via USB (usb-rndis-lite) – SynCE-Wiki

These instructions let you connect your Windows Mobile 2005 device, via USB, to your computer, using the usb-rdnis-lite kernel module

I whined a few days about the prospect of having to downgrade to Windows (from Linux) in order to get proper use from my new Windows Mobile 5 phone.

However it appears that people have trod the path before for me and I hope to running a fully integrated desktop/phone soon. My expectation is that I should be able to synchronise:

• Contacts
• Tasks
• Diary
• Podcasts from my podcatcher
• Music from my music library
• Photographs from my ‘phone camera

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Time to try Sunbird again I think

Sunbird 0.5 Release Notes

What’s New in Mozilla Sunbird™ 0.5

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My favourite del.icio.us tip

Become a del.icio.us jedi in 10 minutes » Slacker Manager

Become a del.icio.us jedi in 10 minutes

Bredon from Slacker Manager has some great tips for doing more with the del.icio.us bookmarking site.
My personal tip is to based around the del.icio.us’ bundles feature.

1. Log into your del.icio.us account
2. Select “settings” (top right of page)
3. Select “bundle tags”
4. Create a bundle called 00Current (anything that starts with something that like 00 so that it appears at the top of the list)
5. Add tags that you will need frequently to the bundle. For me these are tags for my email accounts, my current projects and research, current customers, online banking, my reading list etc.
6. Return to your bookmarks and you current tags should appear together at the top of the tag list
7. Keep the bundle up to date as things change

There are of course variations on this basic theme so experiment with whatever works for you.

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Another blog than is not ashamed to say “Application Lifecycle Management”

Agile Software Process Improvement

Agile Software Process Improvement

I just found Jason Gorman’s blog (and his UML Tutorials). I am looking forward to reading more over the next few days.

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Class divide in cyberspace: facebook vs. myspace

BBC NEWS | Technology | Social sites reveal class divide

research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college. By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.

I have membership of both sites and it’s interesting that in a short space of time I have 14 friends on facebook, most of whom found me and only two on myspace who I sought out.

I also found myspace to be a better user experience (better UI design and more in the default set up).

In both cases I created the accounts to better understand Web 2.0 and how my children might handle it.

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I might have to go back to the dark side

andLinux

a complete Linux system designed for developing applications and runs seemlessly in Windows 2000 based systems (2000, XP, 2003)

My new Windows Mobile 5 phone will not sync with Evolution and I am not convinced my WiFi card is working as well as it should.

However I currently have problems running Windows:

1. I don’t want to because I like Linux and OSS
2. Windows is less secure
3. Installing svk is a pain. It would appear the only option is to install by hand each time there is an upgrade
4. I need to run GnuCash for my accounts
5. I have to have access to RT, assuming my paper is accepted for OSDC

andLinux might represent a practical solution to all the points above except 1 and 2 providing I put with re-building svk each time it gets updated. I’ve already run GnuCash under coLinux in the past with great success.

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UML for ALM Process Documentation

Some time ago I wrote about

Formal UML documentation for ALM Processes « Alec the Geek

the use of sequence diagrams to show higher level process

I at last got around to creating a very simple example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What is Enteprise Change Control?

Tool vendors love to talk about ‘Enterprise Change Control’ but what does that mean? Here are some attributes that I think define this label. Obviously there is further detail to be inserted behind each point (but hopefully all that will be revealed at OSDC)

• Captures everything
  E.g. bugs, questions, initiatives, enhancements,…
• Does not drop anything
• Does things the same (best) way every time
• Records risks and progress
• Authorises the risks and work
• Keeps historical information
• Is regularly reviewed for improvement
• Is appropriate for the task at hand
• Supports a clear “line of sight” from request to implementation
• Supports and reinforces the “Dimensions of Change”

Can a camera phone really work as a crude scanner

Can a camera phone really work as a crude scanner

Originally uploaded by alecclews
I tried a little experiment to see how well my new camera works as a document scanner. This is a brain dump I did a few months on Application Development issues.

I suspect the result is useful for no one but me, on the grounds that I am the only one who can read my own writing. However the general technique does seem useful as I now have a easy way to make a quick record which can then be transcribed into a readable document. If you view the Flickr large size then it’s readable (at least for me)

The paper is approx A5 size (it’s actually a Moleskine page)

Mike Elgan has various other suggestions as well for using a camera phone

Capturing ALM Metrics

Useful Software Metrics « Alec the Geek

Using a ticket management and capturing all issues, not matter where in our lifecycle they occur

Not all software teams have tools that allow metrics to be gathered. Without metrics we cannot answer questions about productivity, process improvement or estimating other than by (hopefully) intelligent guesswork.

How might we address that in the short term?

1. Introduce a time sheet system: That’s complicated and requires tools to analyse the data
2. Ask people to fill on project work sheets i.e. a time sheet for a project, rather than for an individual. It should be filled as each project work product is delivered (e.g. domain model,  fully dressed use cases, test cases, etc.). The sheets should be simple i.e. the deliverable, the project name, the project phase, dates and a summary total of effort and the number of people involved.

Armed with this simple information it should be possible to start gathering some more intelligent insights into how well the software process is working.

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Interesting use for school artwork

Interesting use for school artwork

Originally uploaded by alecclews
When you travel a lot on business it can be very tedious living in hotel rooms all the time and often there are feelings of isolation.

I sometimes take the kids artwork with me and hang it up on the mirrors etc. It makes the room a lot more homely.

And showing the kids a photograph of their artwork in your hotel room gives them a big boost.

Lisa bringing Dad a beer

Lisa bringing Dad a beer

Originally uploaded by alecclews
I have been asked, in the interests of balanced reporting, to show my favourite picture of my other child so here it is. The fact that the picture also contains beer is neither here nor there

Jack and Alec

Jack and Alec

Originally uploaded by alecclews
I’ve just activated my Flickr account and here is one of my favourite pictures — Jack and I fooling around with my camera phone (which not longer works since I upgraded to Pocket Windows 2003 SP 2) in a restaurant.

I’m thinking up upgrading to a Samsung Blackjack which would allow to take better quality photos (as well as make phone calls)

OSDC 2007

The Open Source Developers Conference 2007 call for papers has gone out and I have just submitted my paper proposal. Now all I need to do it write the paper and set up the demo’s… (if I get accepted)

An odd blog

Computer Math

Computer Math

I found this site, which has AlecTheGeek linked in their blogroll — many thanks for that. The site is a set of personnel technical notes and seems to be focused on software building and deployment. There is a lot of basic information, but it needs expanding with more personnel experience I think — could have lots of potential.

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Not just blokes have ego problems

Linux.com | Linuxchix coordinator resigns amidst controversy

top leader of Linuxchix resigned yesterday in the midst of a controversy over her leadership style.

I thought this type of bullshit was the exclusive preserve of male dominated organisations such as Debian!

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Agile in the Perl world

Or should that be Perl in an Agile World?

There was a discussion tonight at Melbourne Perl Mongers on using Agile practices whilst Perl programming. To my delight the answer from attendees was ‘Yes we do that every day’! Specifically there was a discussion around:

• TDD frameworks
• Refactoring
• Continuous integration and how important is is to have an SCM tool that makes developer branches (and merging) easy
• Perl Mock Objects for testing
• How to apply TDD to code that is not OO or even a proper module

There is a Yahoo Group on Perl Extreme Programming and an online book

Maybe ClearCase is not so developer friendly after all

Nigel Thorne reports significant productivty gains when using Subversion

Search for Simplicity: SVN vs ClearCase

swapped over from using ClearCase and ClearQuest to using SVN

I would be interested to know if he uses a ticket tracking system as part of the process to replace ClearQuest– but I can’t leave comments to ask him .

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Developer Passion vs. Religious Programmers

What is the difference between a passionate developer and a ‘religious’ programmer?

Attribute	Passionate	Religious
Methodology	Select and modify the most relavent for the current situation	Insist on the current sexy standard
Technology	Has a preference, but uses the most efficient for the current project	My choice is the best dammit!
Problem Solving	Looks at as many different parts of the problem and focuses on the customer needs	Looks it from one standpoint because they know best
Personnel Development	Tries to get a breadth and depth of knowledge	Only goes for depth in a narrow field
Approach to work	Focuses on Quality and Customer needs	Comes to work for the benefit of their own ego

History Ignored?

The NCR History page does not mention ATM’s anywhere in the company’s long 125 years, which is odd considering that they saved the company financial bacon (IMHO).

As you can probably tell NCR ATM’s figured large in my life. I started work in London in 1982 working on the 1780 ATM, which was programmed in a rather bizarre proprietary language called TPL. It had paged banked memory (to fit 256K into a 64K address space). Despite all there limitations the family and it’s successors (I also worked in the 1770, 5080 and 5081) were world class machines – designed and built in Dundee, Scotland, where I was lucky enough to be seconded on a few occasions. I finally left the world of ATMs in 1989.

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