Archive | Technology

Quick Updates

Things are cranking along here at TR&A.

Ted’s just completed a project migrating a client off an older server whose software was no longer updateable onto a shiny new virtual machine. Moving software from old to new presents a number of challenges. The services provided by the OS get updated, renamed and replaced, so some basic features need to be recoded. Server software has been updated, so it’s unwise to just bulk-copy old configuration files to new, but rather review the settings and make changes appropriate for the new software.

Security has been an area of rapid change in the past few years, a situation that will likely continue to accelerate. Firewall technologies, intrusion detection systems, and malware detection need careful review, not simply upgrades.

Thank you for your understanding!

Please excuse our dust during our remodel!

I’ll be taking down the current web server for a well-deserved retirement and bringing up a new machine in its place. Please be patient during this transition as some services may not be available during the transition. I’ll do my best to make these downtimes as short as possible. If something seems to be down for a long time, don’t hesitate to drop me a line and let me know. We all dread the “it looks fine to me!” episodes. Thanks for your support and understanding.

Send and Receive Your Email with Gmail

Book cover for 'Send and Receive Your Domain Email with Gmail'

Book cover

Another book from Hentzenwerke Publishing available from Amazon: “Send and Receive Your Domain Email with Gmail.”

Whil tackles a number of different ways in which you can use Google’s Email facilities to send and receive email just as if you were running a big company and were paying for someone to host your own domains email server, without the overhead, administration or security hassles.

Whil sets up a couple of different situations: one person with a bunch of domains, several people on one domain, several people several domains, and goes through ways these can be configured via your ISP and Google to allow you access to email all in one Inbox or separately. There are also some very useful asides.

Check it out at: https://www.amazon.com/Send-Receive-Domain-Email-Gmail/dp/1930919107

SQLite book available in paperback!

Using SQLite in VFP book cover

Breaking through the 2 Gb barrier — get it?

In 2015, Whil Hentzen wrote and published an ebook on using SQLite with Visual FoxPro. I reviewed and edited the book. Now it has been republished from electronic to paper version.

It’s an interesting proposal: not using SQLite as the actual database for an application, but rather as an intermediary store when importing an impossibly large data set into the very limited native database size of Visual FoxPro (255-ish columns, 2 Gb max!).

Check out the book available via fine booksellers everywhere (ed: Amazon Affiliate Link removed)

“I Feel The Earth Move…”

Seismograph readout

Weston Observatory recorded the earthquake

Actually, it was more hearing than feeling. About 3 miles to the northwest of us, a magnitude 2.9 earthquake this morning made the most disturbing BOOM! And the dogs launched off the couch in a fury of barking. Unlike the stories of the dogs warning of the impending disaster, our dogs missed the memo. Fortunately, there was no damage here.

Bill Sconce, R.I.P.

I was sad to hear of the recent passing of my friend Bill Sconce. Bill was an active member of the Greater New Hampshire Linux User Group, the founder of its Python Special Interest Group, and an active advocate for the Free and Open Source Software movements. Bill and Ted had many excellent adventures, hosting Software Freedom Day events in Concord and Nashua, running a LUG booth at LinuxWorld Boston, teaching a LAMP course, along with Bruce Dawson and Dave Berube, at the NHTI’s former Business Center, road trips to the Dartmouth LUG and hanging out together. Bill was a Vietnam-era veteran and a former DEC employee. In addition to his many Linux activities, Bill was an active ham radio operator (N1BFK), an airplane pilot and flying instructor, and a volunteer ballot re-counter for New Hampshire. I will miss Bill. Thoughts are with his wife Janet and their extended family. Rest in Peace.


Bill (William Joseph) Sconce, age 72, Lyndeborough, NH, died on January 5,
2016 at Lahey Hospital in Burlington, MA. The cause was a cerebral
hemorrhage. He was a good man.

Bill was born April 19, 1943 in Indianapolis, IN, and came home to the
House on the Hill in Edinburgh, IN. Bill grew up there with his brother
David, who predeceased him. His parents were Eva Mae and Joseph Byce
Sconce. Bill soon became a proficient Spelunker and surveyor in the caves
of Indiana and Kentucky, and a motorcycle enthusiast. Graduating from
Culver Military Academy, where he earned his Amateur Radio License, he
received a Fulbright scholarship and rode his Norton motorcycle to CalTech
in San Francisco, CA where he studied Physics and worked in a
crystalography laboratory. He was drafted during the Vietnam war protests
at that school and served in Taigu Korea, where he studied IBM Cobol and
the Korean language, and rode a Honda 90 motorcycle in the mountains. He
returned to Louisville, KY and began a long career in computer science and
founded his company Industrial Specialities. He met the love of his life
in Louisville, Janet Levy, and with her encouragement he completed his
dream of becoming a pilot, holding a Commercial, Instrument, and Instructor
license. He continued studies at University of Louisville in linguistics
and computer science. Bill & Janet moved to NH in 1979 for Bill to graduate
from being Symposium Coordinator for DECUS to assume the position of
Product Manager for the RSTS Group at Digital Equipment Corporation. Bill
worked for and was layed off from DEC, Compaq, and Hewlett Packard, at
which point he revived his corporation, named it In Spec, Inc. and divided
his time between software engineering and flight instruction. Bill was a
devoted supporter of GPL and “free” Linux software and the Python
programming language. Bill was a member of the Vintage BMW Motorcycle
Owners, Ltd., the BMW MOVer Motorcycle Club of Vermont, the Contoocook
Valley Radio Club, a life member of the National Speological Society and
the American Radio Relay League. He supported the EAA and was a Regional
Judge for aerobatic competitions for IAC for many years. He loved aviation,
including hot air ballooning and skydiving. He participated in Young
Eagles at Boire Airport in Nashua, NH and enjoyed teaching young people to
fly. He taught spins in his Cessna Aerobat. And he was a Quiet Birdman. He
was a member of the Rex Stout Wolfepack Book Club and The Wodehouse
Society. Bill loved theatre, classical and rock music, and especially
lately, attending Dr. David Landman’s Poetry Nights of medieval poetry in
Lexington, MA.

He loved fixing things and if there were no parts available for a project
he promptly made them himself on his metal lathe, or just used his
ingenuity to create something needed.

He loved cigars, scotch, butter, reading, airplanes, old test equipment,
Paris, BMWs, his red convertible Cabriolet with red earmuffs, and his big
black 4 cylinder 4WD truck, bird watching (outwitting squirrels), camping,
hiking on Pitcher Mountain, William Blake, and he suffered not fools. One
of his favorite lead-ins: “As an engineer…”

Bill is survived by his wife, Janet Levy Sconce, his sister-in-law, June
Levy and her family, and many dear friends. Bill was a kind and loving
“daddy” to Virgil Fox and RDB, the cats of his home. Thanks to “The
Committee” and especially Donna Shea, Chris Levin, Ken Hamel, Donna
Giovannini, Tom Steger, Michelle Donovan, Simon Hutchings, John & Cathy
Gubernat and the surgeons, doctors, and nurses at Lahey Hospital. The
family is grateful to all of his many friends who offered support and love.

There will be a memorial for Bill on February 13, 11:00-2:00 at Nashua Jet
Aviation located on Boire Field in Nashua, NH. Call Air Direct Airways,
(603) 882-5606 for more information.

Your call is important to us.

A quick recovery of the blog was functional by noon, and had its appearance restored 99% before the end of the day. I was extremely cautious on this one, as there were some abnormal log entries that indicated the remote possibility that a bad update or malicious software might have corrupted the site. So, rather than patching a potentially corrupted site, I put the site in deep freeze, and built it again from reliable sources. All seems well, so far, and I look forward to digging in and determining the root cause.

Please stay on the line, as calls are answered in the order in which they are received

Astute fans may have noticed the site seems to be having a little trouble. Yup. The site became non-responsive the morning of 20-Nov-2014, and the usual actions had little effect. There were few clues in the logs nor diagnostics easily pulled from the software. To get up and running quickly, I did the famous “WordPress 5 minute Install” and restored the essential configuration. I’ll be restoring the usual theme, fonts, plugins and assets (pictures, links, videos, etc.) from backups as time allows.

Thank you for your understanding.

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