Hacking computers.
I've further explored the delights -- and dangers -- of this activity in the proper and noble sense of the term, which as every geek knows, has nothing to do with the way the word's used in the popular press.
The Condition was so awful that food was out of the question until almost midnight, I really didn't want to talk to anybody or keep up on the news, the Kid had plenty to keep herself busy -- and I kept my mind as disconnected as possible from the goings on in my body by doing some mildly adventurous things with Mac OS X.
There was only one bad half-hour when, logged in as "root", I fiddled with one or two things in what they call the "Core Services" of my machine a little too much and had to boot into Mac OS 9 on a separate partition on the hard disk to undo the damage.
Some intriguing ideas and tips are to be found at one hacking 'blog collective, where contributors currently seem currently to be on vacation.
In audio, for instance, I learn from Nick Sayer that
"that m4a and m4p files are really mp4 files. In fact, if you rename an m4a as an mp4, Windows QuickTime will play it perfectly, and as a bonus will extract a WAV file if you like.
Using mp4info, you can peer inside an MPEG4 file. On an m4a file, you see the expected: a single AAC encoded audio track. On an m4p, however, you see an "unknown" encoding audio track.
These [the Mac OS X MPEG 4 tools] are command line tools, so you will need to play with the terminal to use 'em, but they seem darned useful."
Since the link to fetch the tools in Nick's May 1 entry at OS X Hax is now dead, I'll explore later.
Most of the time, I was trying out half a dozen hacks I've long wanted to implement from Mac OS X Hints and ResExcellence, two of my favourite DIY sites.
Oh yes. Of course I backed up everything I tweaked before delving in. Thank heavens!
Some of the most committed hackers, as well as developers, swear by Resorcerer. But I'm a long way from that league, and some who are in it are unhappy at the idea of forking out ... 256 dollars (235 euros), plus shipping costs!
I'll stick with HexEdit (10 years old last month, free and last upgraded eight days ago). It's at the SourceForge I've written about before.
zzz
The changes Marianne likes most about are the obvious ones, such as the ... unconventional things that happen when my Mac boots up.
People fed up with the usual Apple succession of launch screens can let a good and fun tool like Visage ($9.95) from Sanity Software do the work for them, but it's more entertaining to do it yourself. I use Visage mostly as a learning aid.
Ideas from the Deep, one of my bookmarked software developer sites, is an interesting outfit for distributing products for Mac and for Windows (should you really want Nanosaur, Bugdom and the like), as well as for sponsoring Open Source projects (HexEdit among them).
zzz
On Open Source development, which I encountered in depth during some research in South Africa a couple of years back, I do plan to write more once I've fully explored the mass of links e-mailed to me by the quiet wizard Jean-Claude.
Mac-addict -- then computer sciences lecturer in SA, now in Queensland -- Philip Machanick gave me the lowdown on the doctrinarian Richard M. Stallman, the Free Software Foundation and his GNU project ("GNU," we're told, "is a recursive acronym for 'GNU's Not Unix''; it is pronounced 'guh-NEW'."). He also told me about Bruce Perens, who recently published a draft for perusal and feedback of an 'Open Source Strategy for the Open Group'.
zzz
For now, on Jean-Claude's recommendation, I've just started to read Eric Raymond's "musings on Linux and Open Source by an accidental revolutionary", as he subtitles his essays 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar' (O'Reilly, 2001 Amazon UK*).
I haven't bought this; it's in my new virtual library, where I've been again this afternoon. Enough money has been spent this month on introductory computer books for Marianne's delight.
Last night, I had another, good look at O'Reilly's Safari Books scheme and decided that it's a first-class idea.
The principle is that you pay a monthly (or annual) subscription, the amount depending on how many books you want to take out of the library at a time (I went for the lowest number: five). The choice of more than 1,000 titles from several publishers is excellent.
I initially had reservations about reading online, but it's cleverly done. The full text of each book is split up into easy to swallow bites and it's equally easy to navigate your way around the plate. You can bookmark pages, print and take notes, and the only condition is that the book stays on your private shelf for a month before you can swap it for a new one.
Raymond's book is a great and accessible read, well worth the fuss made about it when it was published. From what I've learned about Open Source via Jean-Claude's updates, I agree with reviewers at Amazon. 'The Cathedral and the Bazaar' is open to non-geeks and far more balanced in its approach than some of the famous names in rival camps.
I've long wanted a copy of Mac OS X Unleashed (Sams, 2002; Amazon), but the O'Reilly site gives me a month with that five-star 1,500-page monster together with four other books for about half the price of buying that alone.
Hmm. When it comes to computers and some other technical subjects, I think my reading habits are in for quite a change...
Like decent software, you can also give the bookshelf a free trial run for a couple of weeks.
Like an idiot, I forgot that...
Oh. As to my own innards, they've been almost as well-behaved today as the Mac's. Blessed relief!
________
*To answer questions I've been asked: I generally link to Amazon in the UK rather than Amazon.com not only for geographical reasons but because the US links are far more widespread and used at BC.
And yes: I have considered applying for Amazon associate membership myself, with the results you see here as of today.
Buying via my 'blog won't change my bank balance, but might enhance my gift-giving capacity... 
10:18:50 PM link 
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