My Projects

Well, I caught up but life interfered again. I was discharged (honorably) from the U.S. Navy, went back to school for a degree in computer science, and got a job. As far as writing the book goes, I no longer have a Windows system. I'm trying to get a Windows shell working on Linux (thanks to things like Wine). Windows itself faught me the whole way, and although it won just about every battle, I ended up winning the war in a single decisive blow. Being a Linux user now, I'm gaining a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the motivation behind LiteStep and the desire to make Windows look like anything but. The fate of this project will be decided shortly.

It royally sucks, because I do indeed have to upgrade to Windows 98. The P75 I picked up wasn't new, but rather something I found at a yard sale. Heh, serves me right. It's dead and not coming back to life, so I resurrected my Crapaq Presario 1690, put Windows 98 and Red Hat 8 on it, and LiteStep and OpenOffice.org (Win/Lin) on it so I can keep going with the project on the road. A little bit of Web site touch-up, a little bit of email catch-up, and I will be back on track.

I've picked up a new P75 running Windows 95, but the most recent ILS builds don't seem to work properly. I'm fighting to get the most recent build installed and working, so I'm at a standstill until it works. It will royally suck if I have to upgrade to Windows 98.

Well, it's happened. LiteStep.Net is back up and in full swing, and I've just about completely caught up in my email. I'm definitely going to have to do something about how I sort and read my mail. Anyway, I've also gotten my new computer up, secure, and reliable enough that I can use it for daily tasks. All I need now is to get my old compy back up so I can write and run.

After too long an absence, I've taken up the project again. Over the summer, I've had to take care of too many projects at work, and I fell behind on my projects at home. Remember that this entire Web site and all of its related projects are a spare time venture. My day job must take priority.

Status: Outline item III.A.1. (LS Info on the Web.) I've had to reform the items underneath that one because of Website attrition. That's okay, though, because I'm not going to have any Ebert & Roper quality reviews of sites, only basic blurbs on what's where and how to find it.

Last night on IRC (irc.openprojects.net/#litestep, if you want to find me), repugnant made me aware of something I failed to seriously consider. I'm going to need my manuscript proofread by LS subject matter experts. I'll be the first to say that what comes out of my first draft won't be entirely accurate or pretty. It may not even be entirely complete. But that's why I'll need proofreaders and critiques. Just something I'm keeping in mind...

Progress is slow. Wanna see why? I think this comic strip kind of explains how I feel at times.

After so long an absence from the project, I came back to it and put the outline in the computer. You can read the outline here, but it's meant for my own personal use and not likely to be well understood except by present LiteStep users.

Finally I got the pieces of the cover assembled and colored. The only problem I have now is the Triggerphish version of the LiteStep logo: I can't find one big enough, so it'll come out a little pixellated when it's scaled up. If I'm infringing on anyone's rights, or I'm not giving credit to the right party, or I'm doing something else wrong, please let me know!

I've settled on a logo for the book, which you can see at the top of this page. The rest of the cover will be forthcoming. I've settled on an ideal size of 7.5 by 5.25 inches (or maybe slightly wider if necessary to accomodate a CD). That's about the size of Hougton Mifflin's one-volume edition (paperback) of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," but I don't plan on anywhere near the bulk.

I finally reached the first of four milestones for the book: it's outlined! All I have to do now is put it in the computer, then I'll get started on the task of actually writing the thing. If you'd like to help, you can usually catch me in the evenings (PST) in #litestep on IRC's EFnet or Undernet or Open Projects Net masquerading as the T2 mascot, ArielMT. I'll probably need to pick lots of brains as I fill in the outline with up-to-date information