Dan Kulp’s Blog

While in the office yesterday (for the first time in almos a month), a couple people noticed I was running KDE/Linux on my MacBook Pro. Yep. I’ll admit it. I’ve given up on OSX and am back using Linux. I feel I gave OSX a pretty fair trial. I used it exclusively for 3 full months, but I could never get myself to feel comfortable with it and definitely feel I’m more productive and less frustrated in Linux.

My main issues with OSX really boiled down to:

1. Inconsistent and useless keybindings - mostly centering around the End/Home keys. For those that don’t know, the “normal” binding for end/home on OSX is to go to the End/Beginning of the file. Umm… How often does anyone ever need to do that? As a software engineer, I don’t think I EVER need to do that. Very very rare. Why are there dedicated keys to do something I never do? On Linux, End/Home go to end/beginning of the current line, which IS something I do all the time. OSX uses a bizzarre Command-Left/Right to accomplish that for MOST applications. So you need a two key combo to do something that a single key does on linux. What’s worse, the Command-Left/Right DOESN’T do end/beginning of line in one of the major apps I use every day: terminal. That required an even more bizzarre (unless your and emacs person) Ctrl-A/Ctrl-E set of key combos. Anyway, I constantly had to “think” about which application I was in and map that to the correct keys.
2. Window placement issues - when I work, I have a TON of windows open. Probably 4-6 terminals, 4 or 5 browser windows, Mail applications, rss readers, IRC client, IM client, etc…. I want/demand “single click” access to any of those windows at any given time. (BTW: I hate tabbed browsing/tabbed terminals because that’s a two click access. Once to select the browser window, and another click to select the tab.) I could never really get that to work well on OSX. What’s worse, I seemed to always need to go hunting for windows (use expose) to find thing I was just using. Example: I start writing an email in Mail.app. I switch to a browser or eclipse to copy some data, I click on “Mail” icon on the Dock, but that brings up the main Mail.app window, not the Mail creation window that I was just in. I then need to bring up expose or something to help find the window I really need. I felt I was wasting a ton of time just finding stuff I was just using.
3. Spaces is a POOR replacement for pretty much any of the Linux pagers. Moving windows from “space to space” is SOO much quicker/easier in Linux. In KDE, the pager in the panel shows all the windows (with their icons) and you can actually drag them from space to space right there. No need to hit F12 or whatever, wait for the spaces to come into view, move them around, etc…. Also, with KDE, the system menu on any window has a “To Desktop -> #” menu to send any window to any desktop. It’s much quicker. (that said, when I’m at home with my dual monitor setup, I don’t really use the multiple desktops/spaces much. I mostly just use it when I’m away from home where I only have the notebook screen.)
4. Lack of “gnu-isms”. Yes, the command line in OSX is Bash and uses all the normal Unix commands (ls, cp, etc…). That, in itself, is a HUGE HUGE advantage over Windows. However, it doesn’t have any of the “gnu-isms” that I’m kind of used to. “cp -a”, ability to put command flags last on “ls”, etc… Again, minor stuff, but I’m definitely used to them. (I know, install macports and replace the versions in OSX with real versions.)
5. Likewise, not-so-good integration with some other tools that are necessary such as gnupg. Getting the gpg-agent up and running on OSX sucked. Getting it all working in Mail.app was also not as easy as it should be. Etc….
6. Mail.app is not as good as KMail - Along with very good gnupg integration, KMail has two other things that are really important to me:
   1. Folder subscriptions - I keep YEARS/GBs of mail up on my imap server in “archive” folders. I just don’t subscribe to those folders so I don’t see them unless I really need them.
   2. The “threaded message list” in Mail.app only has two options: all expanded or all collapsed. I LOVE KMails “all collapsed unless it has a unread message”.

Anyway, I’m back to Linux, which is definitely where I feel I belong.

Besides, it’s fun to hack Linux kernel drivers to get useless things like light sensors working.

Kulp Technologies is proud to announce the immediate availability of Kulp Micro Edition 2.0. This release builds on the success of the previous version to provide enhancements to the popular features:

• Ability to produce a wide variety of stinky, smelly fluids and excrement.
• A high pitched wail, expected to occur for about 4-5 hours a day, every day.
• Guaranteed to distrupt any thoughts of sleep for anyone around for the first couple months.
• Inate ability to require the use of all spare resources for the next 18 years. If you’re lucky, it will then require even MORE resources for another 4 years.

In addition, version 2.0 is specifically designed to work closely with existing Kulp Micro Edition 1.0 installations to produce:

• A very high level of general chaos and disorder.
• And even higher level of resource usage.
• Several new incessant noises that will sound very similar to “he did it”, “he’s touching me”, “that’s mine”, “he started it”, etc…

Weighing in at a healthy, 6 pounds, 14 ounces, 19 1/2 inches, Kulp Micro Edition 2.0 (code named Nathan Riley) is only slightly larger than than the 1.0 version.

Julie Kulp, lead developer, exhausted but in good shape, had this to say: “9 months of sleepless nights…. What were we thinking?!?!?!? Never again.” Ryan Kulp, Junior Developer Assistant, said “MY Baby.”

More information is now available at the product website:
http://www.nathankulp.com

A couple weeks ago, I did another podcast about Apache CXF with Dana Gardner. This podcast was a bit different than my first podcast as we brought in another CXF committer, Benson Margulies, to provide another view point.

All in all, it definitely went smoother than my first podcast. Experience definitely helps.

I’m fairly excited. At the Apache Members meeting last week, I was voted in as a member of the Apache Software Foundation by the existing members. This truly is an honor in recognition of the work that I’ve done in helping the various Apache projects learn about the Apache ways and striving to learn more about the ASF myself.

Yesterday marked a full week as a Mac user. I must admit that right now, I’m still slowly crawling out of the “what did I get myself into?” hole as I’m still struggling with the transition. It’s definitely a learning experience as I adjust.

For the most part, I REALLY like the hardware aspects of the MacBook Pro. Compared to my Dell XPS m1710, the hardware is quite nice. The machine is much faster (CXF builds in about 20 minutes compared with about 30 minutes) but also runs a LOT cooler. I can actually sit and type with it on my lap without burning my legs. Battery life is much better as well. It’s quite a bit lighter. The power brick is a LOT smaller and lighter.

I was quite concerned about the “single button” touchpad as I use context menus a lot. However, after just a couple days, I’ve come to the conclusion that the two finger click method is a TON better and much more comfortable and less straining on the thumb. Instead of curling the thumb under the palm to hit the other button, you put two fingers on the touch pad instead of one and just click. The hand stays in a natural position.

I’ve already blogged about the built in iSight cameral thing. That’s a fun “toy”.

I really have only two complaints on the hardware front:

1) The ambient light sensor - this seems to be in a stupid place under the grill on the sides of the keyboard. Whenever I reached to hit delete or escape, I ended up casting a shadow or something and the screen would dim driving me nuts. I ended up turning that off. IMO, it would be better to have that sensor at the top of the screen with the camera.

2) Lack of dedicated PgUp/PgDwn/End/Home keys. As a programmer, I spend a lot of time navigating around code to find bugs, debug things, etc… Having to use two keystrokes for those actions is a bit strange. Normally, I use an external keyboard (I highly recommend the Kinesis Contoured keyboard) which has the keys, but when traveling, it’s a bit awkward.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the hardware. Software is another story, but that’s for another blog entry and I’ll give myself more time to adjust before bitching about that.

Last night, IONA hosted a meetup party at JavaOne so the Apache folks could get together and chat and say high as well as for the users of the projects to meet the developers. IONA is involved in several Apache projects like CXF, Active MQ, ServiceMix, and Camel. We wanted to say thanks to all of the users of the projects and basically just say “Hi”!

I must say, I had a great time last night. It was great to finally put some faces to several of the CXF folks that I’ve been chatting with on IRC and the mailing lists for the last several months. There was a good turnout of CXF users. Even the mysterious “Dan Diephouse” whom I haven’t been able to chat with for quite a while made an appearance. In all, it was a very good time. I know Debbie was clicking away with her camera. Hopefully she’ll have some pictures to share shortly.

It didn’t take long for my son to discover the nice shiny new computer sitting on daddy’s desk. So far, his favorite thing is the camera capturing into iMovie:

He doesn’t quite understand the “baby in there”. He touches the baby on the screen and declares “Baby in there”. What’s even more confusing is when he see’s daddy with another baby. So much for no fingerprints on the glossy screen.

We also did a video chat with grandma tonight. I think that was more entertaining for grandma than anyone else. It was very easy to setup though.

Today, my employer purchased me a new computer: a brand new Apple MacBook Pro 17″, 2.6Ghz. This marks a bunch of interesting events:

1) This is the first time in 10 years that I’ve had an employer supplied computer. I’ve pretty much always used a computer that I’ve purchased myself.

2) This also ends my string of Dell’s. I’ve had 5 Dells in those 10 years. I started with the Inspiron 5000, then the 8000, then the 8200, then the XPS Gen 2, and finally the XPS M1710. During that time, I also setup several Dell’s for family members. (mostly 6×00 series Inspirons)

3) During that 10 years, I’ve also pretty much only used Linux on my computers (and prior to that, it was OS/2 primarily). Thus, folks keep asking me if I’ll wipe out OSX and install Linux on it. Well, I don’t know yet. I’m going to give OSX a chance for a few weeks. Check back later.

Just received this piece of email from Jim Jagielski:

I am happy and proud to announce that at this month’s board
meeting, we have approved CXF’s graduation out of the Incubator
and as a TLP. Dan Kulp was approved as VP of the PMC.

Congrats to one and all!

Pretty exciting. After 20+ months of hard work, the Apache CXF community finally graduates out of the incubator.

Today marks the one year anniversary of CXF coming to Apache. One year ago today, Jason van Zyl sent the first “Welcome” mail to this list.

It’s probably a good time to think back over the last year and see what we’ve accomplished.

First off: releases - we managed to produce 2 milestone releases along with a full blown release. The process to release the first patch has started. That’s not too bad. Moreover, the groundwork is now laid which should allow us to produce releases more quickly and easily which should allow us to be more agile and respond to users needs.

The 2.0 Release is the first (and at this point, only) Apache Licensed, Standalone Certified, JAX-WS implementation. That’s a huge accomplishment. That was the major bullet item on the incubator proposal, and we accomplished it.

We also are integrated into Geronimo as an option for the JAX-WS implementation there. When they ship 2.0, the user will be able to chose CXF for JAX-WS. Geronimo certified FIRST with CXF. That speaks highly of the CXF community and it’s ability to work well with the Apache Geronimo community. Other J2EE vendors are also looking at CXF to provide the JAX-WS implementation.

User base: with the full 2.0 release in the beginning of July, we’ve definitely seen a spike in users looking at CXF and, more importantly, using it and migrating applications to it. If you look at the archives of our user list, the July post count was nearly tripple the max of any previous month. (email overload.) In less than one month, we’ve had almost 6000 downloads of the 2.0 release, and that doesn’t count the people that would use maven and grab it that way. This is an exciting time as people start using CXF in ways the developers never imagined, stretching limits, etc…

Community: The CXF community is quite active. The dev list constantly has discussions going on, people participating, etc… If you look at our stats on Ohloh, over the last year, 22 developers have contributed code. Ohloh considers that a large community. (Note to devs: Ohloh warns “Few source code comments”. We need to work on that.) Doing some stats on logs, over the last 6 months, every month has had at least 10 unique commiters contributing code. The funniest Ohloh stat: 190,825 LOC, Effort: 49 person years, Value: $2,687,418. 22 people did 49 Person years of work in one year. Nice job. Anyone feeling underpaid?

We’ve added 4 new commiters, and with the increase in activity due to the release, several others are “getting close”. The extra eyes and hands have helped make CXF a much better product and meet more needs than we could have done without them.

Also, who can forget: we changed our name. The impossible to type CeltiXfire was replace with the simple CXF name.

Anyway, the past year has been extremely exciting to me. We’ve accomplished a LOT in a very little amount of time. We’ve had our ups and downs. Any new community at Apache has it’s “learning experiences,” but we got through them as a community and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring.