[ExtractStream] Could we categorize every tool? - right on and a challenge

[Roger Merchberger]

--- Mark Weaver <mweaver@u...> wrote:
> Joe,
> 
> RIGHT ON:
> You are on the right track!!! I have been quietly following this
> community
> for about a month and for me it is not organized well enough for me
> for it
> all to sink in. The active members are doing some very good work
> but it is
> hard for the novice to follow.

But we were *all* novices once... the easiest way to learn this stuff
(at least I've found, so this is MHO) jump in, make mistakes,
eventually figure it out, then write a webpage about it! :-)

> A little structure would be very cool.

I'm trying to provide a little of that with tivo.30below.com... just
that I've had no takers... :-(

[snip]

> THE CHALLENGE:
> For me, I am also looking for a solution that will keep me from
> voiding my
> warranty of my new Series-2 Tivo box.

Warranty work is just like air & sex... it's only important when
you're not getting any... ;-)

> What I would like to see this community come up with is a
> configuration
> that:
> -- Has minimal changes to the Tivo Box:

Where's the fun in that??? ;^>

> - so that as new Tivo OS updates are processed they are less
> likely to
> break the hacked configuration.

Doubtful to happen, the way that the Tivo updates are applied.

[snip]

I have a cross-challenge: I understand that not all of you are coders
- not everyone is good at organization [ahem... that'd be me ;-) ] -
not everyone's good at everything necessary to accomplish these
goals, and to wait for them to happen thru someone else will only
insure that it'll never happen.

Let's find out who's good at what & start working like a team... I'm
not the most organized of the bunch, believe me; nor am I the most
artistic. If you're good at webpages, donate a little time to keep
the main community page current (as that's one of the biggest
downfalls to this hobby IMHO - those of use who are spending time
trying to figure stuff out, don't have the time to fiddle with HTML,
so a lot of the info out there is outdated or in some cases just
plain wrong...). If you're a good coder (like
jdiner/gary/Edmond/etc.) it would be helpful for them to be able to
concentrate on improving the 'tools of the trade' without having to
worry about keeping up webpages & whatnot... and so on.

I can provide enough webspace for what we need - if the site grows to
more than the 300-400Meg that I can afford to spare, I'll solicit
small donations for a new HD, spring for the rest, and install it in
my webserver. That'll give me up to 40G available for the community
as necessary. If the site grows, I'll make sure there's a home for
it. But it's not going to happen wishing someone else will come up
with it.

== Note == I'm not dissing you; please don't think I'm upset or
anything, or saying your a lazy bastage or anything. This is all part
of the planning, and if your strong points are planning, then you're
a better man than I to take up that part of the job!

I agree that there are a lot of tools out there right now, some of
which overlap for features, usability & whatnot. What we need is not
only someone to think up a classification scheme, but someone who can
also put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard as it were) and get
that scheme published, and most importantly, *keep* it updated &
current.

Scott mentioned that his webpage is somewhat out of date - for a few
things that I do, my webpage is also out of date... this is part of
what makes it hard for a novice to follow along with the scene.

Anyway, that's my $0.000002 CDN today; assorted ramblings with fuzzy
eyeballs & fuzzier brain. I'm headed home to maybe catch a Law &
Order, mebbe watch me Farscape & quaff a couple beverages from north
of the border (CDN beer is so much better than that American crap...
;-)

Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger

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