| Astroblahhh Desktop v1.0 |
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Thursday, September 10th, 2009 01:08:46 GMT |
| Site Update Software Release |
Finally, I have released Astroblahhh Desktop v1.0. Now, in addition to the Astroblahhh Links Organizer and Astroblahhh Idea Organizer, it contains the new Astroblahhh File Organizer.
So, now, I can much more easily find things, and add search tags, ratings, notes, and other info to those things' records in the database, so I can easily tell what everything is for without having to guess.
The Astroblahhh File Organizer also gives me a way to literally melt my hard drive. Yes, really. Having 255,000 file records in a single database and then adding/removing 20 indexes (each taking about 28-40 seconds to add or remove) is not a good idea.
Fortunately, my hard drive still works, but, it was pretty scary accidentally having it reach 69° Celsius, the highest temperature I've ever known it to reach (I didn't think it could get higher than 66°), and actually smelling the melted plastic. 69° Celsius = 156.2° Fahrenheit. :-O
Here's a picture of my hard drive. Unless I'm mistaken, the plastic on it is supposed to all be smooth, not rough in spots like it is now. (Click the picture for a larger version).
So, in light of my experience, it's probably best to use the Astroblahhh File Organizer for multiple small databases, instead of packing way too many file records into a single database. How many is too many? I don't know. :-)
So, please only use Astroblahhh Desktop at your own risk. The other organizers' databases could conceivably have the same problem if they had too many records in them, but, compared to file records, it's harder to add a ton of idea or link records, so it's less likely that your ideas or links DB will end up being dangerously huge. Nonetheless, be careful with them too.
Here's an Astrolog 5.40 command line for any curious astrologers:
(Edit, 9:13 PM. Drat! My computer's clock said 9:09 PM, but maybe it was a little fast, since my blog post is actually dated 01:08:46 GMT (9:08:46 EDT). Oh, well. Since I uploaded the file before I posted the blog post, that might mean I actually uploaded it at 9:08 PM, Sept. 9, 2009.
Oh, well, at least I was early instead of late. Then again, maybe I was on time. I have no idea which clock is more accurate, my computer's or my website's.)
Yes, Mercury is retrograde, and because of the technical and communications snafus many astrologers associate with Mercury retrograde, many astrologers would probably advise me not to release this now. I don't care, though. It's just too good to hold back for three weeks just because of astrology.
Besides, Mercury retrograde is actually rather appropriate for a program with such a major problem as the ability to overheat and melt your hard drive if you add/remove a lot of indexes of a huge 255,000-record database. :-)
But, there are still some more things that I'm going to have to complete before I'll feel like it's really done. (Or at least, as done as I can make it for the time being, until I become a better database programmer).
Since it took a long time for me to add 255,000 file records to my personal file DB, I don't want to just discard it. So, I'm going to have to write yet more scripts so I can split up my DB into smaller portions. I'd also like to make it easy to switch between multiple databases without having to edit source code.
I'm so tired of working on Astroblahhh Desktop, though, I don't know when I'm going to get around to that. So, I just thought I ought to release what I already have so far, since it might be months before I get the rest done.
Edit, 11:24 PM. Too bad I didn't even think of naming it Astroblahhh Desktop v0.99 until just now. Oh, well - too late now. :-) It would have been cute - Astroblahhh Desktop v0.99, released on 9/9/09 at 9:09 (or 9:08) PM. :-)
Edit, 12:04 AM, 9/11/2009: As usual, I had to reupload the zip file numerous times after the initial upload, since I kept noticing minor problems, typos, etc. that needed to be fixed. The last upload was at 11:58 PM EDT, 9/10/2009. If I change it again, I'll update this post again.
I tried to both upload the zip file and post this post at 9:09 PM, simply so I could say I released Astroblahhh Desktop v1.0 on 9/9/09 at 9:09 PM. :-) (I was too tired to do it at 9:09 AM).
-qa Sept 9 2009 21:09 EDT 80:34W 41:09N
Location: Hubbard, OH.
-qa Sept 9 2009 21:08 EDT 80:34W 41:09N
The program is actually useable as-is, and I'm guessing it probably won't melt your hard drive unless you do what I described above, or something else which is incredibly taxing for it. (Nonetheless - again, please only use this program at your own risk).
-qa Sept 10 2009 23:58 EDT 80:34W 41:09N