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# MJR: Miscellaneous Tech
 I'm a software developer. That means sometimes I
develop things that I hadn't meant to get involved with in a big way, like
[drivers,](../2007/drivers) [blog tools](../2007/blogtools) or
[servers](../2007/software#servers). I'm not much good with hardware either.
This page covers stuff that isn't a big project for me - that is, it's not
connected with bigger projects like [web apps](webapps), [debian](debian),
gobo, [SPI](spi), or [koha](koha).
### National Archive should use Open Document Format
##### Posted by mjr 2008-04-11 (permalink)
There's [a 10 Downing Street e-petition asking for the National Archive to use
ODF and not Microsoft's OOXML as
planned.](http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ODFinNA/)
Not sure if we can really stop gov.uk selling our heritage to Microsoft now,
but it seems worth the effort to sign it.
K. Ralho comments:
> "This is probably the first (and last) time where I wished I was British."
Why? All these petitions get is usually a polite rejection from Number 10. At
least it makes them aware of the issue, though.
What we really need is something like the Swiss direct democracy, where
[enough signatures triggers a
referendum.](http://www.bk.admin.ch/themen/pore/vi/index.html?lang=fr)
[Comment form for non-frame browsers](../../comp/respond.pl).
Comments are moderated (damn spammers) but almost anything sensible gets
approved (albeit eventually). If you give a web address, I'll link it. I won't
publish your email address unless you ask me to, but I'll email you a link
when the comment is posted, or the reason why it's not posted.
### More RAM is the stuff of gods
##### Posted by mjr 2008-03-26 (permalink)
I've been putting off upgrading my faithful old retai^Wlaptop for a while now.
I finally added another 512Mb at the weekend (damnit, 640k should be enough
for everything - remember the 80s?).
I usually slice my hands when I open desktop machines, but upgrading this
laptop was surprisingly painless: undo one screw, slide off one panel, insert
new stick, press down to click, replace panel and screw, boot.
The machine now flies along, even with Firefox^WIceweasel still leaking all
over the shop when stressed.
[rozie](http://rozie.jogger.pl/) commented:
> "If your firefox is leaking, try to disable cache in ram (about:options
search for cache). I didn't notice my iceweasel (Etch version) having any
problems with ram usage..."
I'll give it a go. Thanks for the tip.
[Marcin Trybus](http://llewelyn_mt.polter.pl/) commented:
> "I'd go for "about:config" instead of "about:options". ;-)
>
> Well, my ThinkPad T23 has 512MB RAM, and simultaneous running of FF, TB,
multiple OOo windows, akregator and psi under Debian/KDE 3.5 poses **no**
problem whatsoever. Of course the memory is 90% used + 10% cache, so it's not
optimal, but I never have to swap anyway."
My brain auto-corrected the above:config thing...
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