I reverted to an older picture this time; got some comments about how unnatural I looked in a suit - and frankly I agree. :-)

The computers at home haven't changed much hardware wise; OK a few smaller upgrades (a Jaz mainly - I recommend them highly BTW!) but my trusty 486-DX4 is still doing the job thank you very much! :-) I've been tempted to go Pentium of course (who hasn't) but decided I'd rather wait for a system that's an order of magnitude or more faster rather than settling for a measly 3 or 4 times as fast. Lately I'm thinking dual Pentium Pro's and Linux SMP, with the option to use NT 4 when it comes out, or the OS/2 SMP version. For now I'm getting really disgusted with Win95 for crashing far too often, not supporting my soundcard very well, etc. I have finally made the mental commitment to finding Linux replacements for all my favorite Windows software, I think. Word processors are finally starting to happen, and there's a Photoshop like thing called GIMP that looks promising. I don't know if anybody will ever match Corel Draw though. But I do so little "desktop publishing" anymore that most of the time I don't even miss it.

The TCP/IP packet project is pretty much functional now. I provide full time access to my system via 9600 baud packet radio on 144.91 MHz (it's a ham thing!) as well as via the Internet at electron.goodnet.com. There is a webserver but not much on it yet. I have a couple projects in the works though (one of which is the hopelessly outdated VR page). My Janine Turner page on Goodnet has much more new stuff compared to last year; that reminds me of some other stuff I was going to do... Lately I feel like my hobbies could easily amount to a couple of full time jobs! Too bad they don't make me any money.

I may be getting involved in a project to create a no-interruptions TCP/IP link capability to the Mir, using a worldwide configuration of gateways with amateur radio equipment and Linux with mobile IP extensions. The limitation there is more money than time though... I need suitable antennas, radios, and a remote-controlled alt/azimuth antenna mount. The software looks like a piece of cake though.

I was hot on the Oregon trail for a few months - looking for jobs up there I mean - but it didn't happen quickly enough to work out. Meanwhile, the job at Acoustic Imaging petered out, and (after a month and a half or so of searching) I got a job at Gateway Data Sciences, implementing their next generation POS server (don't know if I can say much more than that! :-) And I found a deal on a house I couldn't refuse. So I'll be spending the next year or so fixing up the house, hopefully make a nice profit whenever I get around to selling it, and maybe have another go at Oregon in a few years. Meantime I finally get to move out of my trailer and live in a real house! Yay! The computer room is going to be out of this world; I'll put up some pictures here when I get it done. Suffice it to say there's gonna be a wall sized video display and racks full of equipment with lots of blinky lights and stuff. :-)

One way or another, once I get this house thing under control, I want to get some kind of home business going; most likely some software projects. Guess what OS they're going to run under...:-) No actually I believe in the cross platform philosophy. All this Java and CORBA/OpenDoc activity lately is really looking interesting. Have you noticed, nobody really gets in to flamewars over Macs vs. PC's anymore? Could it be, we're finally realizing that good software design can exist on just about any kind of competent hardware? Well anyway, anything which I design that I think has universal usefulness, I intend to do my best to make available at least on some (hrmph hrum) Unices, Windows and the Mac. Check Electron Cloud now and then; I'll announce things there when I get them done. (Bet it will be a year or so though...)

I finally sold the Ranchero (no thanks to the Internet though). I gave the guy a smokin' deal; he painted it bright turquoise, and then it got stolen. What a bummer. I wish I had kept it. The Datsun pickup still isn't fixed; my so-called friend procrastinated for months, then lost his job and I haven't heard from him since. Guess I'll have to tow it back over to the house one of these days. Meantime I bought a '66 Ford 3/4 ton pickup (the oldest one yet! Old enough that emissions testing isn't even required on it). It runs and will be handy for hauling the big stuff, but if it weren't for all the money I have invested in that poor Datsun I'd trade both of them to have my Ranchero back again. The transmission had mysteriously started working better on its own the day I sold it, and well transmission work can be had cheap some places...

The Z is doing fine, mostly, although a few minor problems have developed over the last year. I'm still in love in spite of them. :-) Some time when I haven't spent one of my paychecks on the house I'll have to throw one at it.

Well that's about it for now. Have a good year! :-) Maybe it won't be so long this time.

Shawn T. Rutledge

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