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Newsletter

October 1, 2010

I have just posted another updated Mt4Analysis Php package designated as .48.01-2010.10.01. Refer to the Mt4Analysis change log for a complete list of package changes.

August 6, 2010

I have just posted another updated Mt4Analysis Php package designated as .47.01-2010.08.06. Refer to the Mt4Analysis change log for a complete list of package changes.

July 30, 2010

I have just posted another updated Mt4Analysis Php package designated as .46.02-2010.07.30. Refer to the Mt4Analysis change log for a complete list of package changes.

October 25, 2009

I have put the TCL software development on hold after getting involved with trading analysis software for the foreign exchange market (or Forex for short). The software I am developing is a trading analysis project that loads statements from the Metatrader trading platform and presents various trading performance analysis.

I have just posted the package called Mt4Analysis which is written in Php, JavaScript and HTML designated as version .4-01-2009.10.22 which is an alpha package.

I have also placed a live read-only version of the Mt4Analysis project on this site. You can get to it from here.

March 28, 2009

I have added the electrical consumption database to the Ecolife section of the site. Work will now begin on the next TCL software package.

January 29, 2009

I have just updated the site with a section on Ecolife including posting my entire vehicle mileage database. This Ecolife section will now be enhanced with the addition of a database consisting of my home electrical consumption.

September 1, 2008

I have just posted another updated TCL package designated as .66-1.36-2008.09.01. This package contains the addition of the graphical, single user financial budget and scheduling application called cupsched. This package also contains a new graphical library module called popupdown that displays and removes popup windows.

This package also contains a couple of bug fixes to the TCL code base.

I am now going to spend some time enhancing the website with a new section called Ecolife.

March 30, 2008

I have just posted another updated TCL package designated as .65-1.35-2008.03.30. This package contains the addition of the single user financial budget and scheduling application called sched.

Work will now begin on the graphical version of the TCL, single user, budget and scheduling application.

June 17, 2007

The website has been rather inactive for the past while.

I have purchased a 24in. iMac and after a major hardware issue just after the 30 day exchange policy (the power supply and LCD panel had to be replaced), the iMac is healthy. I have been testing all the Tcl applications on the iMac and have encountered one compatibility issue with the Tcl language between Linux/Unix/Windows and Mac. More on this later.

Work is still in progress (slowly) on completing all of the single user Tcl applications followed by a graphical version of the personal schedule/budget program.

My progress has been slow due to having another major development project at the company I work for. This project is very exciting but time consuming. The project is based on a LAMP server with the exception that I have chosen to use the SQLite database library instead of a full-blown MySQL server.

September 17, 2006

A new GPL package designated as 1.36-2006.09.17 has been posted and all website documentation has been updated. Major features in this package are:

Note that I may not have time to build and post all the packages at the same time. I will post the updated packages right after I build them.

After all the new packages have been posted, work will begin on the Tcl versions of the personal schedule/budget program. A text version and a graphical version will be built.

August 19, 2006

I have just posted another updated Tcl package designated as .64-1.35-2006.08.19. This package contains the addition of a new application called dos2unix as well as some bug fixes. This website has also been updated with the current documentation.

Work will now begin on a new C package containing a version of the ialive application as well as a financial budget and scheduling application.

August 7, 2006

I have just posted another updated Tcl package designated as .63-1.35-2006.08.07. This package contains the addition of two new applications (ialive and daymvdel) as well as the path parsing API. This website has also been updated with the current documentation.

Work will now begin on the next application, dos2unix.

July 1, 2006

The design and implementation of the new website design is complete. If you notice any errors, please let me know. Enjoy!

June 19, 2006

I have just posted another updated Tcl package designated as .62-1.35-2006.06.19. This package contains the addition of the fourth single user database application called iex which is an application that imports an ASCII file into a database table. This website has also been updated with the current documentation.

Before the release of the next Tcl GPL package, I will be taking some time to update this website with a new design. Once the new website design is fully implemented, work will begin on the next Tcl application called daymvdel.

May 13, 2006

I have just posted another updated Tcl package designated as .61-1.35-2006.05.13. This updated package contains the addition of the third single user database application called dbstress which is a database stress program for the Bbuuzzb database engine. This package also contains some bug fixes. This website has also been updated with the current documentation.

Work will now begin on the database import API and the single user database import application.

April 16, 2006

I have just posted another updated Tcl package designated as .6-1.35-2006.04.16. This updated package contains the addition of the second single user database application called db which is the main command line interpreter to the database engine. This package also contains some bug fixes. As usual, details regarding all additions and changes can be found in the change log. This website has also been updated with the current documentation.

Work will now begin on the third single user database application called dbstress.

March 22, 2006

I have just posted an updated Tcl package designated as .5-1.35-2006.03.22. This updated package contains the addition of the first single user database application called dbgen which is a random data generator. This website has also been updated with this application documentation.

Work will now begin on the second single user database application, db.

March 18, 2006

I have just posted an updated Tcl package designated as .4-1.35-2006.03.18. This updated package contains the addition of the database sort module. The updated documentation is included in the package. This website has also been updated to reflect this new module.

Work will now begin on some additional Tcl single user applications starting with the database random data generator dbgen.

March 8, 2006

I have just posted an updated Tcl package designated as .3-1.35-2006.03.08. This updated package contains the addition of the database fixed-point read/write API. The updated documentation is included in the package. This website has also been updated to reflect this new module.

The next Tcl module to be added is the database sort module.

March 6, 2006

While doing some research, I stumbled upon p7zip which provides 7-zip archive support for Unix/Linux/FreeBSD. I installed this program on a couple of our lab machines, tested it and the level of compression is just as amazing as the Windows version.

I have added 7-zip archives to the download page for all Linux/FreeBSD platforms. These archives are tared first to preserve the owner. The z-zip format will be completely supported under Linux/FreeBSD going forward.

March 3, 2006

A new GPL package designated as 1.35-2006.03.03 has been posted and all website documentation has been updated. Major features in this package are:

A word of caution is in order regarding this package. The client/server code has changed at the low-level for all TCP-based applications. This means that you cannot mix older versions of Future Lab GPL applications with these newer applications. They will not communicate. This applies only to client/server applications and only if you are using TCP IPC. I should have also put a note in the package readme file but I forgot.

Work will now proceed with moving the Tcl code base to a more complete version. There will be one more release of the single user only Tcl code which will include the completed database engine and more applications. This package will be followed by an initial client/server Tcl package.

February 13, 2006

I have just posted the updated Tcl package designated as .2-1.34-2006.02.13. This Tcl package contains the same source code as the previous package along with the completed documentation.

Work will now begin on making some low-level changes to the C package to correct the socket handler issues mentioned in the entry of Oct 16, 2005 and July 24, 2005.

October 23, 2005

I have just posted a C/C++ package for FreeBSD designated as 1.34-2005.10.23. This new package is based on the 1.34 code base released in July.

October 16, 2005

The first Tcl package has been posted. This first package is for all platforms that can run Tcl/Tk code. This alpha package is designated as .1-1.34-2005.10.16. I call it an alpha package because it is incomplete. This release contains most of the library API's and the single user Bbuuzzb database engine. This package is also missing most of its documentation. The complete documentation will be built over the next while. After the documentation is built, some low-level changes will be made to the C GPL package to correct the socket handler bug mentioned in the entry of July 24.

July 24, 2005

The new GPL package designated as 1.34-2005.06.01 has been posted and all website documentation has been updated. Major features in this package are:

Note that there is an unresolved bug in the low-level socket communication API. The receive function can enter an infinite wait state when the application is receiving data. This wait state can occur when the amount of data is larger than one packet. The problem seems to be in the logic that determines whether there is more data to arrive. The Future Lab socket communication API does not use delimiters and thus relies on an assumption of more data to arrive. The socket communication API will be re-written to transmit a header consisting of the data length which will resolve this bug. This change will be incorporated into the next release of the Future Lab GPL package.

Work will now continue on developing the first TCL package which will contain all the Future Lab single user API's along with some sample applications. The client/server API's and the rest of the applications will then follow.

June 25, 2005

The modifications to the website are now complete. The website is now accurate and up to date. Work is now starting on packaging the new GPL software package 1.34 and this should be posted on the website by the end of July.

May 25, 2005

The website is back up after being offline for more than a year. The interface has been completely redesigned by removing most of the many images that were being used and also removing the frames.

The changes are not quite complete and you may notice a spelling mistake here and there along with some inaccurate information. Over the next month or so, all of these issues will be addressed.

The next version of the GPL package is being prepared. All of the coding and testing has taken place. The package needs now to be built for the various platforms. The technical information posted on the site reflects the next GPL package (1.34), not the current one.

A while after the GPL package is posted, the first version of my TCL GPL package will be prepared for posting. Most of the library API code has already been written.

The support for REALbasic has been withdrawn. The actual development stopped for this platform in 2001. All documentation as well as the ability to download the obsolete GPL package has been removed. Refer to the April 19, 2002 entry of this newsletter for the reasons why support for this platform has been halted.

February 29, 2004

The website has been cleaned of some of the dead links. Some of our references to other websites resulted in page not found errors. Most of these dead links have been resolved.

The coding on the next GPL package is progressing slowly. Part of the reason for this is that I am learning the TCL language along with the Tk graphical package for TCL.

October 22, 2003

Effective today, we have closed our weather station down. All updates from the weather station to the Internet have been terminated and all the weather station web pages have been removed from our website.

The weather station has been shut down due to the property where the weather station is located has been sold.

October 19, 2003

The new GPL package designated as 1.33-2003.10.19 has been posted. All documentation has been updated. Major features in this package are:

February 2, 2003

The GLOBAL hypertext of our GPL software is now available from the download page. You may download either a frame or a no frame version.

February 1, 2003

The new GPL package designated as 1.32-2003.02.01 has been posted. All documentation has been updated. Major features in this package are:

As previously stated, Linux binaries are now being produced under Debian Linux. The GPL binaries are produced using gcc 2.95.4 with level two optimization which has noticeably reduced the size of the binaries.

After the move to Debian Linux, we were unable to re-build a gcc cross-compiler for Windows hosted on Linux. As a result, a pre-build version of gcc (version 3.2 (mingw special 20020817-1)) using the MingW32 interface was installed. The GPL executables for 32bit Windows are built on a machine using this compiler. The Windows GPL package now contains the Windows batch files we use to build our software.

The GLOBAL hypertext is no longer available online as it is too large and cause a 'disk quota exceeded' error when trying to upload it. We will make the GLOBAL hypertext available as a download as soon as possible.

November 2, 2002

There has been quite a few changes to our lab:

Starting with the next GPL package, binaries will only be generated for Debian Linux, not Red Hat. This should pose no issue as the common ELF format will execute on most Linux's.

A no frames version of our website is now available. A link has been placed on both home page types to switch between the two. This was done after discovering the that the frame method we use does not update the URL within the browser.

July, 29, 2002

The new GPL package designated as 1.31-2002.07.29 has been posted. All documentation and the GLOBAL hypertext index has been updated. Major features in this package are:

The next GPL package will add a database sort routine and implement ar library modules.

April 19, 2002

A new GPL package has been posted designated as 1.30-2002.04.19. This package contains major changes to the Bbuuzzb database engine and server. All packages except for REALbasic have been updated.

The REALbasic code base will no longer be updated and will be frozen at package 1.29-2001.12.15. This decision was made due to:

The frozen REALbasic package will continue to be available for download.

The next GPL package will further enhance the Bbuuzzb database engine.

December 15, 2001

The new GPL packages for version 1.29-2001.12.15 have been posted. All packages have been updated. The major changes in this package are the merging of all C source code into a single code base and the full support of the session table and catalog within the Bbuuzzb database server.

Work will begin on the next package (1.30) which will see major changes to the Bbuuzzb database engine and provide for server replication.

November 14, 2001

We have added our weather station information to our website. The station data will be updated every 30 minutes.

The C coding to implement the Bbuuzzb server session table and system catalog are basically complete. The next section to code is sub-field and sub-sub-field support followed by replication.

September 21, 2001

The 1.28-2001.09.21 GPL packages have been posted. All website information along with the GLOBAL online source have been updated. Check the changes log for complete information.

Here are the current development plans:

August 29, 2001

The REALbasic coding has been completed. This includes the database API and a number of applications. The documentation is currently being worked on. When the next Future Lab packages are released (currently scheduled for the last week of September), the REALbasic package will be completely up to date.

April 10, 2001

C/C++ Users Journal has just published another article based on Future Lab GPL software. This article titled Two Classes for Simple Socket Programming appear in the May 2001 issue. This article is based on the two Future Lab C++ socket classes csocket and ssocket.

March 2, 2001

The modifications to remove redundant links within a single HTML page are complete. From now on, a specific link will only appear on a page once. Further references to the same place will appear in red italics without the link present.

After reading an article in C/C++ Users Journal entitled Navigating Linux Source Code by James Bonang, I decided to give the GLOBAL tag based source code browser a try. I am so impressed, I will be offering this view of our C/C++ GPL Software from now on.

February 23, 2001

Posted a new GPL software package designated as 1.27-2001.02.23. This new package adds the dscan directory scanning API along with other modifications. See the changes log for complete details. This new package has been generated for source only, DOS, 32bit Windows and Linux.

The next project is the removal of redundant HREF links on our website. After that, I will continue to complete the REALbasic GPL package. The next part to complete is the Bbuuzzb database API (single and multi-user) along with the Bbuuzzb database server.

January 24, 2001

I have just posted a new REALbasic GPL software package designated as 1.26p-2001.01.24. This new package adds the sys_log API and the system log server as well as extensive modifications to the socket server class.

The next REALbasic package will include the Bbuuzzb database API as well as the Bbuuzzb server.

Before starting work on the next REALbasic package, I will be modifying this website to remove duplicate links on each HTML page as previously detailed. I also have plans to create a multi-platform API in C to scan directories.

November 10, 2000

There are a number of items to report:

Website Updates

The look and feel of our website is complete. A cascading stylesheet (CSS Level 1) is being used to implement visual consistency. All HTML pages have been modified to use the stylesheet. This change will allow us to keep the HTML pages uncluttered and give us the freedom to change the look and feel of the entire website by just modifying the stylesheet.

GPL Software Package

New Package

A new Future Lab GPL package has been produced. The designated version is 1.26-2000.11.10. This new package adds another C++ class called word string.

New Package Documentation

This new Future Lab GPL package contains updated documentation using the same cascading stylesheet as our website does. Two new directories have been added to each GPL package to accommodate the stylesheet and graphic images used in the documentation.

BeOS Update

I must say that BeOS has been the most difficult OS (for me) to get up and running. I had good success with the first machine that I tried. This machine was not mine and I was using the machine as a test. I then tried to get the OS running on another machine which was using an AMD K6-200 processor. The OS hung trying to bring up the GUI. I then went out and bought a machine which I specifically designed for BeOS (or so I thought). Both the graphics card and the network card were not recognized. After trying some six machines, and in frustration, I went back to the AMD machine and managed to get the OS to run by using the disable BIOS calls boot option.

Getting the Future Lab GPL software running has also proven to be difficult. All the single user applications are running fine but there seems to be problems with the socket interface. The client applications seem to be closing the text output stream at times and BeOS does not properly recover when an application is using an open socket and the application is terminated while the socket is still open.

In light of these developments, I am going to postpone support for BeOS until I can get the problems worked out.

X10 Update

Just when I had given up hope of developing some X10 specific software, I encountered some X10 GPL API's on FreshMeat. Unfortunately, the existing GPL software is solely concentrated on the Linux OS. I will be doing some research and then creating a multi-platform X10 API.

Future Plans

Here are the items that we will be working on in the near future:

REALbasic

I will be implementing the next piece of the REALbasic GPL software which will be the system logger API along with the system logging server.

Website

The majority of the business partners have decided that the website technical documentation contains too many repeating links. I have a plan to deal with these redundancies using the stylesheet and the italic HTML tag. A specific link will be used only once on each HTML page. Any further references to the same word or concept will use the italic tag to indicate that the actual link is defined elsewhere in the page.

X10

As mentioned above, I will be creating a multi-platform X10 API. The API will only attempt to interface to the CM11A X10 controller. This controller is the one in most common use and it is very cheap. I am in the process of learning to interface to the controller from the Windows OS. Implementing a Linux version of the API will be fairly straightforward due to the fact that there is a lot of existing GPL code on this topic and interfacing to the serial port from Linux is much easier than from Windows.

September 27, 2000

We have again changed our website interface. A new menu has been added to the left side of the frame. The left side menu is not complete yet. A couple of minor changes need to be done to the wording of the menu items. A new links page has also been added.

I have decided to provide GPL packages specifically built for BeOS. I am just in the process of setting up a machine that will run BeOS all the time. You can expect a BeOS GPL package within the next couple of weeks if all goes well.

I have also been carefully watching the introduction of QNX RtP. This special version of the QNX OS has been released free for personal use. I am also planning to produce a GPL package for this OS.

September 23, 2000

I have taken a pause from porting the GPL software to REALbasic long enough to create some C++ classes and test applications. The first two classes are socket related. They are, a client socket class and a server socket class complete with simple test applications. This new GPL software appears in the new GPL package 1.25-2000.09.23 which I have just posted. This new package is available in a source only version as well as for Linux and 32-bit Windows.

September 10, 2000

I have posted the REALbasic GPL software package. This package does not include all the Future Lab GPL software. The package contains most of the core library and API's (except sys_log and Bbuuzzb) and a single GPL application which is the socloc server. This package has been designated as 1.24p-2000.07.05.

All Future Lab web site pages have been modified to open a new window when a link is clicked on which refers to an external web site. This should solve the problem where all pages appear within the Future Lab website frame.

September 8, 2000

I have posted the REALbasic documentation on the parts of the software that are complete. I will be posting the GPL software package within the next week or so.

September 6, 2000

We have re-implemented the new website interface. There should not be any issues with different browsers displaying the website differently. You will notice that any external website pages will be displayed within the frame of our website. The solution to this issue is to open a separate window when a reference to an external website is clicked. The modification to our website pages to accommodate this change will be made in the next week or so.

The REALbasic documentation is complete. I will be posting this within the next few days.

August 17, 2000

We have gone back to the old interface after noticing some browsers were not displaying the frame properly. The persons involved have been given 30 lashes with a wet noodle. You may notice the logo missing on some pages. I was part way through adapting all the pages for the new interface, when I found out about the display problem.

August 14, 2000

We have re-designed the look and feel of our web site. It was rather shabby but it loaded and responded very quickly. Times change!

August 9, 2000

The REALbasic coding of most of the GPL library and the socloc API and server is complete. I am busy creating the documentation.

The C/C++ Users Journal article on socloc has been published. Pickup a copy of the September 2000 C/C++ Users Journal or visit C/C++ Users Journal online.

July 5, 2000

While testing the socloc API for REALbasic, I noticed that the existing socket servers (socloc, dumsocks, sys_log and Bbuuzzb) did not register the server IP address upon initialization. Since the REALbasic socket control connects using the IP address and TCP/IP port number instead of the host name and TCP/IP port number, I decided to also register the IP address. I then found out that the server code does not have the TCP/IP address on hand as it is not required in the C code. I realized that I needed a couple of IP address functions and borrowed some code from the iresolve application to form a new library module called ip.c. I have also modified all socket server code to obtain the IP address from the host name and use this to register the IP address with socloc. Most of the Unix shell scripts have also changed. These changes are reflected in the new GPL packages (source only, Windows 32-bit and Linux) designated as 1.24-2000.07.05. The new packages have been posted and online documentation has been updated.

July 1, 2000

Posed a new GPL package for source only, Windows 32-bit and Linux designated as 1.23-2000.07.01. Code changes in this version are posted in the change log.

June 1, 2000

I have completed the changes to the sockc application mentioned on May 25th. You may now run sockc with or without the socloc interface. Two new commands have also been added to allow you to turn the socloc interface on or off while the application is running.

The client socket high level API has been re-structured and tested. See the change log for more information.

The sockc application now uses the client socket high level API to manage the current socket server connection.

New GPL packages for source only, Windows 32-bit and Linux designated as version 1.22-2000.06.01 have been posted.

May 25, 2000

There are a number of items to report:

New GPL Packages

I have posted new GPL software packages designated as version 1.21-2000.05.25. New packages have been posted for source only, Windows 32-bit and Linux. The Windows 32-bit package is the first one built using the GCC 2.95.2 compiler hosted under Linux. This cross-compiler uses the Mingw32 (Minimalist GNU Win32) interface/library. I am using the 2000.02.03 release.

A bug in the sockc application has also been corrected in this new package. See the change log for more information.

Article Published

For the past couple of months, I have been working on a magazine article about socloc for the C/C++ Users Journal. I have just received confirmation that the socloc article will be published in the September 2000 issue.

REALbasic V2

I am working on porting all the GPL software to REALbasic V2. So far, I have the parse, file i/o, personal logger, low-level socket API, and high-level client socket API completed. Sockets under REALbasic have turned out to be quite a challenge. I will post a REALbasic package as soon as all the library API's are complete and at least one server and one client are also complete.

Sockc Changes

I have decided to make the sockc application more generic. Specifically, I am planning to add a command line switch and coding changes to allow sockc to be used without socloc. This would provide a universal socket diagnostic tool. The changes should be complete in the month of June.

May 7, 2000

Posted new GPL software packages including: source only, 32-bit Windows, DOS and Linux. This new package is designated as 1.2-2000.05.03.

April 30, 2000

The integration of the socloc interface into all API modules and applications is complete. A complete list of all new changes can be found in the change log. The new GPL packages have not yet been posted as I am still working on modifying the documentation. You can expect the new GPL packages to be posted within the next week or so.

I have started using a new version of the GCC compiler under Linux. It is version 2.95.2 which is the latest stable version. The version of Binutils used is 2.9.1. I have also created a Windows 32-bit cross-compiler hosted under Linux using the Mingw32 ( Minimalist GNU Win32) interface/library. I am using the 2000.02.03 release. The new Linux GPL package coming up (1.2-2000.05.03) has been compiled using this new version of GCC. I have successfully cross-compiled to Windows executables and have noticed that the GCC versions are larger. The Windows executables built in the new GPL package are still compiled using CodeWarrior V4. After the new GPL package has been posted, I will fully test the Windows executables built using the GCC cross-compiler. If all goes well, the next GPL package will be built using the GCC cross-compiler.

As noted in the change log, the Unix shell scripts have had a major change introducing environment variables to control directory locations and compiler defines. These changes where made so that I can easily modify any directory or compiler define.

April 3, 2000

A new package has been generated which includes an updated sys_log server and Bbuuzzb database server. This new package is designated as 1.11-2000.04.03. These new versions have been posted including, source only, Windows 32-bit and Red Hat Linux. For complete details on this new version, refer to the change log.

March 12, 2000

The last new package has been posted. This package is for Red Hat Linux. There will not be any new DOS package as all the new items are specific to TCP sockets which are not present under DOS.

Now that this new version is available, I will now concentrate on adapting the existing socket servers (Bbuuzzb and sys_log) and clients (db and dbstress) to the socloc interface and correct the bugs already found.

March 11, 2000

The second new package has been posted. This package contains only the source code and is not platform specific. This package is also designated as version 1.1-2000.03.09.

March 10, 2000

The first new package has been posted. The package is designated as version 1.1-2000.03.09. Only the new Windows 32-bit new package has been posted.

March 9, 2000

A new web page has been added to document all the GPL software changes. This new web page is called the change log.

March 4, 2000

All new software and changes to existing software have been fully documented are now online. The next step is to package the software and post it.

February 27, 2000

The socloc overview, socloc API overview and socloc API documentation is complete and posted. The next step is to document the four new GPL applications (socloc server, dumsocks server, dumsockc client and sockc client).

February 9, 2000

All new code on socloc, dumsocks, dumsockc and sockc is complete. Instead of moving on to integrating the socloc API into all existing clients and servers, I have decided to first write the documentation and release an interim package minus the integration. Once the package has been released, I will quickly release another with the sys_log and Bbuuzzb servers along with all client applications completely integrated with socloc.

You also might notice that I have re-organized this newsletter so that it reads in descending date order and the new information appears at the top instead of the bottom.

We are planning to change the look and feel of this website. In the next while, you will see this new interface. As it will take a while to populate the new interface to all web pages, do not be alarmed if some web pages have the old interface and some have the new.

December 24, 1999

I have spent the last little more than two months on a new socket server that will revolutionize socket client and servers. Its name is socloc which stands for socket locate. This service is designed to be used by both other socket servers and clients. The main idea is that a client of a socket service does not need to know the host name and TCP/IP port of the service. Socloc has that information and will deliver. A socket server, upon startup, registers a service name with socloc. An enormous benefit of socloc is that it provides automatic failover for both socket servers and clients. The current plan for socloc is:

So far, I have almost completed the socloc server and client API as well as the dumsocks server. More later.

October 7, 1999

Posted the Future Lab QNX GPL software package.

October 1, 1999

At the suggestion of some of my friends, I have put a page called The Bbuuzzb Story which details how the Bbuuzzb database engine came to be.

September 20, 1999

Posted the Red Hat Linux GPL package for download. Have decided not to post packages for platforms that I do not have a machine for. This means that direct compiled support will be dropped for all commercial Unix platforms like HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, IRIX. Of course, the GPL source package can be easily compiled for all these platforms. This decision was a hard one as I do have access to these OS's but only through my employer. I did not think it was fair to use my employers' machines for a non-corporate reason.

September 16, 1999

Posted another polemic paper. This one is titled the use of floating point. If you are a big user/promoter of floating point arithmetic, you are not going to like what I have said.

September 13, 1999

I have just posted yet another GPL software package. This one is for 16bit native DOS and a dos box under other OS's.

While re-compiling the GPL code under Turbo C V3 for DOS, I encountered some omissions in the GPL code. In one case, there was a bug causing an infinite loop in one of the GPL applications. It turns out that the compiler switches I am using on this DOS compiler are very strict. This catches many issues that the other compilers did not find.

As a result of the (mostly minor) corrections, a new package version has been generated. It is 1.01-99.09.12.

September 9, 1999

I have just posted the next GPL software package. This source only package is built using WinZip. I have also considered posting a version using tar/gzip but I'll wait on this and move onto the other packages.

September 7, 1999

I just posted the first GPL download package. It is for 32bit Windows. I started with Windows because I figure it will be in demand the most. I have placed a link on the main web page to the download page. You can also get to the download page directory at:

   http://www.future-lab.com/download/index.html

The order of posting the other download packages will be:

I have also posted the first (of many, I hope) of the polemic papers. I have started the topics off with a favorite of mine... bloated software.

August 28, 1999

I have been busy submitting the Future Lab web pages to the various search engines and some of these are starting to show up.

I have also just received a copy of RealBasic Pro V2.0. Now that this development environment has the features needed to do serious development, I will be porting the already existing GPL application code to this environment. More on this later.

I am almost ready the package the GPL application code for download. There are a couple of last minute changes that have to be made. Check back here in a couple of weeks.

August 25, 1999

After months of work, our website is basically complete. There are a number of items yet to be added. Namely:

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