Still alive

Hi everyone !

Thank you all for the "get well " notes ! I think Netscape should
have a breathalyzer !
It was a meltdown, - I guess. I have been working very long, very
hard, no time off, - and I take one step forward, and end up two
steps back ! Jon used a good word someplace, I think it was
"#!!z?%%###" - or something.

Who is complaining about a quiet list ? I am going broke - just on
printouts !

Someone said they would wait with Linux, as they felt there was just
too much trouble. That makes me sad, and I have empathy with
everyone that is striving to master this. Linux is just *one*
floppy disk ! - more or less, all the rest is a ton of different
application programs. If you had one program in dos, you will find
ten in Linux, doing the same stuff. In dos, I like a program called
Xtree. You can download a clone of this, called ytree from a
FreeBSD server. ( FreeBSD is a free unix OS, more or less like Linux
) There is so much programs available, - it's a jungle. ( And you
can get lost )

I have not used Pico, - but I have used a program called joe. (
Joe's editor ) If you have used WordStar, Borland editors, SideKick,
- then it is just ^KD to save. To open a file: joe <filename> .
If you would try out some changes to a script, just copy it to
another name. Like : cp stepper.run mystepper.run - and edit
mystepper.run.

In your home directory, you have a file called .bashrc - copy it
to some other name for save keeping, and you may experiment with it.

In this file, you have some "alias" - like:

alias ls='ls --color'

This one will turn on colors for executable files, other colors for
directories, and so on.
I put in a line like this:

alias cd..='cd ..'

This one will then behave just as the cd.. in dos, while linux wants
to have a space in between.
If you like, you could do

alias dir= ' ls -la'
alias copy = 'cp'

or whatever you would like. You can get Linux to behave just as you
would like it to. But it is better to learn the unix commands.

Here is some of my .bashrc

# .bashrc


# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
. /etc/bashrc
fi

PATH=${PATH}:/root:/usr/my/bin:.

alias ls='ls --color'
alias cd..='cd ..'


#
# Here is several functions.
#
# - drm directory remember
# - dsl directory select
# - dfg directory forget
# - drml directory remember list
#
# You will need to have read/write access to a file called
# .hotdirs, and the path and name is set by a variable called
# HOT_DIR_FILE, mine is below, when I am root. Else put it
# in your home directory.
#

HOT_DIR_FILE="/root/.hotdirs"


# ---------
# -> drm <-
# ---------
#
# directory remember:
# -------------------
#
#
drm () {
echo
if ( cat ${HOT_DIR_FILE} | grep -xs -e `pwd` )
then
echo
echo 'I have already stored that location, idiot ;-)'
echo
echo "Remembered directories are still:"
echo "---------------------------------"
else
echo
echo `pwd`' is from now remembered!'
echo
echo "Remembered directories:"
pwd >> ${HOT_DIR_FILE}
fi
echo
cat -n ${HOT_DIR_FILE}
echo
}

# ---------
# -> dsl <-
# ---------
#
# directory select:
# -----------------
#
#
dsl () {
echo
echo ' 0 "C u r r e n t D i r e c t o r y"'
echo
cat -n ${HOT_DIR_FILE}
echo
echo 'Change to directory (entry number + return):'
echo
read Item
if [ ${Item} != 0 ]
then
cd `tail +${Item} ${HOT_DIR_FILE} | head -n 1`
fi
echo
}

# ---------
# -> dfg <-
# ---------
#
# directory forget:
# -----------------
#

dfg () {
echo
echo "Forget directory entry:"
echo "-----------------------"
echo
cat -n ${HOT_DIR_FILE}
echo
echo 'Forget directory (entry number + return):'
echo
read Item
if [ ${Item} != 0 ]
then
cat ${HOT_DIR_FILE}|grep -svx -e `tail +${Item}
${HOT_DIR_FILE} | head
fi
echo
cat -n ${HOT_DIR_FILE}
}

# ----------
# -> drml <-
# ----------
#
# directory remember list:
drml () {
echo
echo "Remembered directories:"
echo "-----------------------"
echo
cat -n ${HOT_DIR_FILE}
echo
}

# ---------
# -> dir <-
# ---------
#
# List files only, no directories:
# --------------------------------

dir () {
ls -al ${1}|grep -E -e'^-'
}


# ----------
# -> dird <-
# ----------
#
# List Directories only:
# ----------------------

dird () {
ls -al ${1}|grep -E -e '^d'
}


# ----------
# -> dirl <-
# ----------
#
# List symbolic links:
# --------------------

dirl () {
ls -al ${1}|grep -E -e '^l'
}

====================================================================================

These functions will work wonders. I move to /usr/local/nist/emc
- where I want to do some work. I then just enter the
command [arne..]# drm < enter>

It will store this location, - then I am back in another place ..
doing something. I decide to go back to my emc directory,
[arne..]# dsl < enter >

This will list all my selected directories, - I just enter the
number, and I am where I want to be.

==============================================================================

Second, use Linux and forget RTLinux and EMC for a while. You will
get Linux up and running, but it can be difficult to
the RT kernel up, and the X window system. We all like to get
everything up and go from the moment we switch on the computer, -
and we want to skip the instructions :-) But take your time to get
to know how to move around, before you dig too deep into it.

On a RedHat 5.2, - you don't have the latest drivers. I had a AGP
video card, and the X driver would not work. So I bought a PCI card,
and it worked ( picked it out from the recommended list ) - but I
didn't like it. I downloaded a newer XFree86 from the net, but it
didn't help much. Then I had to borrow the PCI card , and I put
back the AGP card. Now I have ditched the PCI card to a Windows
box, I just use - almost never anymore. The AGP board work wonders.

===============================================================================

I have had a hard time with linux, - and I hope this could be to
some help for someone, - but now I can't think of returning to
dos/windows. ( I have done, come to think of it ) I had some PS/2
boxes. Put in a network card, - and mounted the box under Linux !!
I used the disk space. There is just so much you can do !
Okay, - some of it is not plug&play, you have to work a little, but
....
===============================================================================

LASERS:

A "century" ago, I picked up 'The laser experimenters handbook' in
a bookstore in LA. I have studied it, and I don't think
it is any do-it-yourself-stuff. First of all, you need a lot of
hard to get stuff, second, I don't like to fool around with
invisible rays. I have not found any design that is cheap, easy to
set up, and easy to use. ( I read an add - 10KW laser for sale,
wonder what they were asking ? )

Another book I found at a garage sale at the same place, was about
ultrasonics. You can cut with that too. ( all we are talking
about, is to cut something ! :-)

Okay, what about water ?

Most of us have a pressure washer, - doing 1500psi - or something.
I don't know what it is called in english, but in the old days,
there were some pumps you could put in a stream, and by using some
valves, you could generate high pressure from it, due to the "impuls
?" - well, you all know what I mean.

This is a pressure amplifier, and we could make one of those. With
EDM, we could make a nozzle in some hard material.
So, why not try to design one ?
What if you could have a nozzle about 0.02"- 0.04" and some thousand
psi ?

I would much rather have some water splashes, than some invisible
laser rays.

//ARNE