You can find a patch for Irssi with experimental support for 256 colours on my web dump. After applying the patch to Irssi svn you need to autoreconf it. For the lazy you can get a prepatched Irssi.

Format codes support HTML-like RGB-Hex notation, you can review on Formats wiki page. Sample: %Zabcdef

With a true colour terminal emulator such as st you can even experience full true colour support. To do that you need to ./configure --enable-true-color on Irssi configuration. Then, inside Irssi, you can /toggle colors_ansi_24bit on to turn it on. Do note, tmux does not support it and will display weird stuff.

Updated scripts for 256 nick colours can be found on my web dump too. You still need to manually configure /set neat_colors to the list of colours you actually want to use; take your pick from the screen shot below and input it like this: X42X3AX5EX4NX3HX3CX32

Distro support: So far I’ve seen a Arch Linux AUR recipe to patching it, and you can install it on openSUSE if you go to “Show unstable packages” and try the one from home:ailin_nemui.

If you can come up with any amazing 256 colour Irssi themes, contributions are welcome.

After you install your Irssi, test it on a fresh config with the /cubes command, should produce this output:

bases
000102030405060708090A0B0C0D0E0F
cubes
101112131415161718191A1B1C1D1E1F1G1H1I1J1K1L1M1N1O1P1Q1R1S1T1U1V1W1X1Y1Z
202122232425262728292A2B2C2D2E2F2G2H2I2J2K2L2M2N2O2P2Q2R2S2T2U2V2W2X2Y2Z
303132333435363738393A3B3C3D3E3F3G3H3I3J3K3L3M3N3O3P3Q3R3S3T3U3V3W3X3Y3Z
404142434445464748494A4B4C4D4E4F4G4H4I4J4K4L4M4N4O4P4Q4R4S4T4U4V4W4X4Y4Z
505152535455565758595A5B5C5D5E5F5G5H5I5J5K5L5M5N5O5P5Q5R5S5T5U5V5W5X5Y5Z
606162636465666768696A6B6C6D6E6F6G6H6I6J6K6L6M6N6O6P6Q6R6S6T6U6V6W6X6Y6Z
grays
7A7B7C7D7E7F7G7H7I7J7K7L7M7N7O7P7Q7R7S7T7U7V7W7X

The internals of 256 colour support are available on the wiki.

Usage scenario:

Your small group has a scanner in walking distance, and wants to use it for simple scanning.

• It is not worth it to connect the scanner to the user’s computer,

• and also not worth it to be running back and forth between scanner and computer to check the scanning progress (as is suggested by saned).

• Mixed local/network scanning on the machine is not required (as suggested in scanbd.)

• The scanner is connected to a machine without display but with audio hardware. In our case it is an old broken Thinkpad.

• Maybe the scanner is a cheap crappy scanner without automatic document feeding etc.

This script will poll the buttons, scan according to two pre-sets (you could make the scripts more complex if desired) and publish the result on a Windows share.

Communication with the user is done through speech synthesis software.

End user experience:

• The Windows share is added once through “Connect Network Drive” in Windows or as a smb:// Bookmark in Nautilus, possibly by a local “Computer Expert”

• User has something to scan, takes the papers to the room with the scanner. He puts each sheet on the scanner and pushes Button 1. When the scan is finished, he does the same with the next sheet and so on. At the end, the user pushes Button 4 to signal he is done scanning.

• User goes back to his computer, copies the finished PDF file out of the network share. If necessary, he launches Adobe or another software to fix up any rough edges in the scan.

• User could also print this document to some printer in yet another room, after reviewing that everything is in order.

Script to do it:

You can grab your copy here: scanbtn.tar. Detailed information is inside the README file therein. Enjoy!

We still haven’t found a place to take good care of our little one (or even any, for that matter). There is a web service run by the city administration that is supposed to help you find free places. As a little experiment, we watched this site closely for a while. Suffice to say that there were no places.

Well, that’s not quite true. Sometimes there were places, but the end result (up until now) has been:

• sorry, it’s a system error, the place is not really there
• yes we have a place but we don’t give it to you because others are even more in need

and that’s although there is a new law in Germany saying that everyone is entitled to have a day care place. So for us the search is still on (or maybe we need to see a lawyer next…) but until then here are the results of the survey in case anyone is interested:

kita survey
kita survey (German version)

I also want to highlight the technology that was used here: Moops — Object Oriented Programming for Perl, DateTime, FillInForm::Lite (which has better Unicode compatibility that the original), Nonoh to send SMS (paid service), Net::Jabber to send XMPP notifications, FiltersAsTags for Text::Xslate to provide a Domain Specific template language, Statistics::useR to interface directly with R (much more sane that Statistics::R which spawns an interactive R session);
Mojolicious for the web frontend, OSM and Leaflet for the maps, gnuplot for a simple SVG map; forks instead of ithreads, and WWW::Mechanize, LibXML, HTML::Parser, JSON::PP and Text::Balanced to parse the web.