Table of Contents
I'm a novelist and have an interest in space science and physics. I've been a programmer for more than 40 years and I like reviewing new and up-and-coming authors.
Please consider registering (see top of page) to help support this site. Your personal data isn't shared with anyone, but it makes me feel good.
Moss Grid
Many years ago - about a decade I think - I hosted a region or two on OSGrid, an Opensimulator test grid. Opensimulator is an open source version of SecondLife's region server software, allowing you to host your own regions and even your own grids. Standalone regions and grids can be connected via the hypergrid, allowing your avatar to teleport to regions in other grids as easily as it can teleport between regions in your own setup.
Opensimulator has come a long way since I toyed with it back then. I now host two regions on OSGrid, and have my own micro-grid hosting a region - currently just the one but easily expandable. The image shows my avatar standing in the corner of my region of my grid. The avatar skin and clothing came from OSGrid, showing how easy it is to go shopping in other grids.
The regions in OSGrid were easy to setup, but the micro-grid was problematic. Thanks to some great support from people at OSGrid I got it working. The reason it had failed initially is because I mis-interpreted instructions, so entirely my own fault.
CV-Multiply
Some years ago I encoded the cross-vertical multiplication system into PHP code. A 64-bit system can't natively understand any number larger than ~18,446,744,073,709,551,615 so mutiplication of numbers larger than this or whose result is larger than this is completely out of the question without special software or libraries.
I recently updated this code - which could only handle integers - to properly handle floating point numbers. For an explanation on what Cross-Vertical multiplication is and how it works, read on.
Windows Updates
I am reminded today why I hate Windows 11. It doesn't matter what configuration settings I have, the next Windows update may (and probably will) trample all over them. The latest update did just that. I had W-11 setup so that it would notify me of any necessary reboots after an update so I could choose when to reboot.
ForgeJo and GitHub
You might be wondering how my process of releasing FOSS projects works. FOSS (free and open source software) is an essential part of the modern world, and the stuff I write isn't targeted at a paying demographic. I go through a simple process of releasing software that involves 'git', GitHub and ForgeJo. I don't host anything on forgejo.org, but rather I host my own forgejo server.