On this page you can find a few tidbits of software that I have written in my spare time. It is all released under a free license of some sort, so feel free to modify and distribute.

I also spend time taking photos., and sometimes write stuff about life.

Get my public key.

Podtool - iPod sync tool   18 May 2006: New version released Podtool is a Python-based utility for managing tracks between a local music repository and an iPod. In particular, podtool implements correct playcount and ratings synchronisation which is important when using smart playlists. I wrote this tool to scratch an itch, so it does what I need it to do. Please contribute patches, etc and I'll include those in a future release. Perhaps one day this will become a full blown application (console based iTunes?). Podtool requires Python v2.4 and libgpod. You also need to install the libgpod python bindings. Download podtool v1.1(21Kb) 18 May 2006 $ ./podtool.py ipod playlist list | Name | Items | Tracks |Smart? | +-------------------+-------+--------+-------+ BBs Nano 694 3688Mb No Best of the best 386 2003Mb Yes Fresh 596 3134Mb Yes Nano Choice 631 3319Mb Yes New Ones 40 279Mb Yes ThreeStar 245 1316Mb Yes Rate me now! 60 348Mb Yes Podcasts 2 13Mb No $ ./podtool.py usage: podtool.py [options] [args] command is one of: sync [meta] - Sync iPod and local DB - meta: Only merge metadata from ipod ipod add <files|dirs> [podcast] - Add <files|dirs> to iPod (but not local db) If [podcast], set as podcast and add to podcast playlist ipod del <notdb|pattern> - Delete tracks (+files) from iPod. - notdb: all fcksiles not in local db - pattern: titles matching regex pattern ipod list <pattern> - List tracks with titles, artist or album matching given regex pattern ipod playlist create [podcast] - Create a standard playlist called , and optionally set it to be the podcast playlist ipod playlist list [name] - Show playlists [details for ] ipod playlist add <name> <tracks> - Add <tracks> to playlist <name>. Tracks must exist on ipod (see 'add') and are regex matched by title/artist/album ipod playlist del <name> - Delete playlist <name>. Use --del-files option to also delete files/tracks ipod playlist remove <name> <tracks> - Remove tracks matching <tracks> from playlist <name>. Use --del-files option to also delete files.tracks ipod dump - Dump tracks and itdb from iPod. Merges db info to local db and copies files ipod check - Check ipod for orphans, dupes, etc ipod makemap - Create mapping between ipod and local db ipod eval - Evaluate and save smart playlists ipod fixart - Repair artwork on iPod (re-extract from mp3s) add <files|dirs> - Add mp3s to local itdb - <files> to add given files - <dir> to add dir recursively del <files|dirs|pattern> - Delete tracks from local db (not files) - <files> are filenames as in db - <dirs> looks for tracks under <dirs> - titles matching regex pattern list <files|dirs|pattern> - List info for file, dir or regex "pattern" playlist create <name> [podcast] - Create a standard playlist called <name>, optionally set as podcast playlist playlist list [name] - Show playlists [tracks in it with ] playlist rules <name> - Show rules for smart playlist <name> playlist add <name> <tracks> - Add <tracks> to playlist <name>. Tracks must exist on ipod (see 'add') and are regex matched by title/artist/album playlist del <name> - Delete playlist <name>. Use --del-files option to also delete files/tracks playlist remove <name> <tracks> - Remove tracks matching <tracks> from playlist <name>. Use --del-files option to also delete files.tracks eval - Evaluate and save smart playlists check - Check DB for dangling tracks, dupes, etc diff - Show tracks which have changed rating, playcount or playtime on iPod update <files|dirs> - Hunts for tracks in <files|dirs> and updates database with new info. Useful if you have a new rip of a track. options: --version show program's version number and exit -h, --help show this help message and exit -m MOUNTPOINT, --mountpoint=MOUNTPOINT iPod is mounted at MOUNTPOINT. Default: /mnt/ipod -l LOCALDB, --localdb=LOCALDB Use LOCALDB as local itdb. Default: $HOME/.gtkpod/local_0.itdb -M MUSICDIR, --musicdir=MUSICDIR Dump tracks to MUSICDIR (for dump command). Default: $HOME/.gtkpod/musicdump -r RATING, --rating=RATING Add rating to new tracks (add command only) --del-files With local 'del' command, also delete files --limit=LIMIT Limit to files when adding/syncing/dumping -v, --verbose Verbose output -q, --quiet Quiet, only print errors -f, --force Force overwrites (dump command) -n, --dry-run Dry run, don't actually write anything.   Screensavers   A stint of unemployment left me with a little spare time, and how better to spend it than learning a new coding API? Below are three screensavers I've written that use OpenGL. Pretty screensavers are good justification for splashing out $$ on a nice 3D card. They are all included in xscreensaver 3.34 and above. Circuit This hack shows prettly little electronic components floating and spinning around the screen. Occasionally you will see LEDs and displays randomly flicker. This hack makes use of light sources and alpha blending for extra 'ooh' value. Unless you have an old burnin-able monitor, you should run it with '-rotate -rotate-speed 0'. Other components can be added relatively easily. Engine This is a fairly simple GL rendering of a four stroke engine, that uses some alpha blending and light sourcing for extra pretties. It spins and floats around the screen randomly, like any good screensaver should. flipscreen3d This hack is primarily a proof-of-concept. I noticed that no GL screensavers actually create textures out of the desktop, so I created this. It takes a snapshot of the screen, and creates a texture map from it. It then spins it around, mapped onto a simple square. JWZ improved on this with the 'gflux' hack.   Photo Management Software   I have written a web based digital image management system called PhotoShelf. I use it to catalogue and arrange into albums thousands of digital camera images. It runs under Apache, using mod/perl, and makes us of a PostgreSQL backend. Pleae see the PhotoShelf Home Page for all the information regarding this. Note - this is old and not maintained any more.   System Loadmeter   Loadmeter is a Linux/Solaris system resource monitor that uses very little memory, and is written using raw Xlib. It has numerous features, all described in the README file. Version 1.20 (released on 17/9/98) includes support for Solaris. Download Loadmeter 1.20 (23k) Alternatively, if you have Debian you can just run apt-get install loadmeter.   OSS Audio mixer   This is a simple audio mixer for OSS based sound systems. It is very small (both physically and in footprint), although it is an incomplete project, yet still almost fully functional. It's supplied as a single C file, and only relies on Xlib. Download mixer (23k)   PHP To-Do list   To-Do is a web-based todo list application. It is designed to be lean, professional looking and themeable. The interface is very intuitive and requires no special installation beyond untarring. Further information is in the README file. Last update, 25 August 2005. Download To-Do v1.3(11k)