From the front end, the system would be identical to any other cloud computing solution. The user could make calls to retrieve or store data from the web (or other applications).

On the back end, the system would differ from a standard cloud system in that instead of being an array of centralized servers, the system would use a P2P method of distributing the data and loads throughout itself.

Let’s take the example of incoming data.

Data is sent to the cloud. This data is then processed by the RAID software and divided as required (RAID 5, 7, ETC). The distributed part then takes each part of that raid split, call them bits (not those bits) for this paper.

Now each bit will be distributed to multiple clients via a bittorrent like P2P system. One bit would then be copied on 2, 4, 8 nodes (however many deeded needed for reliability).

Then when the data is called, the raid will call the data just as it would normally. However, the system will retrieve the data in this bittorrent fashion by calling it from the available nodes. Nodes that have dropped out or are slower will be tagged and recorded, the data will be pulled from the better sources.

Once assembled by the bittorrent, the bit will be presented back to the RAID as desired. The RAID will assemble the file as required and present it back to the web request.

As stated, the nodes themselves will be tagged and recorded for performance when needed. Highly reliable nodes will be called on more frequently than lower reliable drives. The system would ensure that bits lived on a certain percentage of higher reliability than on the lower reliability. The bittorrent client would use this data to shift bit data onto different nodes, populating data as required.

Lower reliability nodes are not completely useless. They can be used to help with this repopulation as well as for storage of lower requested data. This logic would be based on available cloud space, amount of traffic, even peak times and peak availability.

Now the question is: Why? Why divide this system up into all of these nodes and introduce another step in the process over the current system? The answer is that this is not the current system. This is where the ‘distributed’ part comes in.

For the nodes we create a client program. This is installed on a computer and allows for configuration of amount of space, location, etc. Then this computer is now a node. So instead of setting up a huge server farm, node software can be installed on multiple computers spanning anywhere there is an internet connection.

Imagine if all the computers in a college computer lab donated just a single gig of space to being a node. Then maybe all of the computers in an Apple store or a Best Buy. A PS3 or XBox client could be made to contribute. Even an iPhone or Blackberry client offering as little as 10megs of space could be used.

This would significantly reduce outside influences on data availability. Things like power outages, natural disasters, even high traffic load due to sporting events could be worked around by spreading the data geographically both on an individual node level and on a node collection level.

The space would be tallied, prioritized by various parameters and prepared for use.

Security will be a concern of people using this. How do I know that my data is safe out there on someone’s personal PC? First only a small part of any one file would be located on any one node. The next upstream information available to the user is the bittorrent client which only knows where other copies of the bits are. The user would have to go up an additional step into the RAID and then back down through the bittorrents to find a usable chunk of any one file.

This is the same argument for the security of the node provider as well. For example, should a pirated movie be uploaded to the cloud, the nodes themselves would get parts so small that none of them would have enough for a reasonable argument that it was known to be there.

Extra security could be imposed by making the node into an encrypted image. This would further ensure the security, but may have negative impact on the speed of the node. This would need to be investigated.

This distributed cloud computing allows for a more robust system by decentralizing the hardware as well as allowing for expandability beyond boundaries such as building size and electrical power. It would take the one last part of open source cloud computing, the cloud itself, and allow it to be open as well.

A system such as this could be used in a grand scale, one large cloud, or in smaller forms, several small clouds that could be specialized. Just like bittorrent itself, there could be multiple gateways (torrent trackers, or cloud cars?) into the cloud.

NeoOffice, which is a verison of OpenOffice.org with a whole bunch of Mac-awesome packed in it, has come a long long way since those first experimental patches that allowed it to do things like print. And in that time when I wanted to write anything, stories, newsletters, posts, notes and ideas, I would fire up Neo, write it down and save it.

So what happened? I have all of these files on my computer. A single book idea can take folders within folders, files upon files. Character sketches, outlines, scene ideas, background stories, and of course the work itself.

I started looking into other things other ways of storing information. For my first try I had some basic criteria: portable, cross platform, easy to use. First thought was a Wiki. I set up MediaWiki on one of my sites. This, however, created the need for the internet. So I threw in another requirement: offline.

I found a wiki-on-a-stick called TiddlyWiki. A single HTML file you store on your thumb drive, your dropbox, anywhere you want basically, it lets you do Wiki-ness and Journal-ness. I used this for ideas, characters, research (i think half is just wikipedia links) and ocasional scene writing. This was my scrap paper, my non-linear notebook. One day I’ll show it off.

Later I participated in some Mac software bundle. I believe it was Mac Heist 2, but i could be wrong. I came with a program called Mac Journal, which I have blogged about here as my new ‘toy’. It hooked up to this blog, downloading my content, and letting me upload from it.

I started using it for a notebook, weaning off of the TiddlyWiki slowly. It was Mac only, so I still had that portable itch, but it was good for notes and research for sure. Without the Wiki-ness it didn’t have the internal links (like linking a charater’s name from an idea to the page of his sketch), but allowed for more robust entries. TiddlyWiki was a text file only. Mac Journal allowed for images and video as well. Along with some Mac-awesome.

Months later I am only kinda sold. It is a great too to store information. I use it for school, recipes, and general scrap paper. But for writing? When I open that TiddlyWiki to look something up, it still FEELS more useful.

One thing I am trying to avoid is having TOO many note taking programs. I did try Evernote, which helped with the portable problem, but its client doesn’t hook up to Wordpress. There was a few others, but in the end I ditched them all, not because they were bad, but because I was spreading myself too thin. Why have files in Google Docs, TiddlyWiki, MediaWiki, Dropbox, harddrives, thumbdrives, saved on my iPod, on my phone… see where this is going? Soon you can’t find anything which is way worse than the inconviences of 50 files per story.

As it stands now, I still use NeoOffice to write my stories. (Next post is about that) but for notes, outlining, etc, I currently have Mac Journal, which is a fantastic program btw, and TiddlyWiki. I think as long as I have the XO, the tiddlywiki will stick around.In the end, quick and cross platform is just too good to give up.

The first requirement I put on myself was simple: no modifications to PHPiCalendar. Why? Because I am lazy. I want to write this once and be done with it, not have to tweek it every time there is a PHPIC update. So instead of trying to make PHPIC read from a database, I made the ICS file be generated from a database.

See how that works? As long as PHPIC reads ical files (which I would think is always, since it is in the name…) this is going to work. So, how do we generate ICS files?

For that I used a AJAX trick. See in AJAX, you can’t use an XML file from a different server for security reasons. So what they do is generate it through PHP instead. And I did the same thing.

I made a php file which pulls the information from a database. Because I am using PHP, I can also just have one file and pull multiple calendars from it, using the old ?cal=this_one trick. So I can call holidays by saying ical.php?calendar=holiday, but readings by inputing ical.php?calendar=readings. Same file, all the calendars.

So then all you really need to do is generate a form that fills in the database. More information for ICS can be found here. I merely used the following parts, wanting to just work with the basics.

DTSTART, DTEND, SUMMARY, DESCRIPTION, UID, SEQUENCE, DTSTAMP, AMOUNTTIME, CATEGORY, ID, UPDATED, URL, LOCATION

I did also want to, as an admin of the site, be able to approve or dissapprove items. So I put in another field called APPROVED into the database. If the even is marked as unapproved, then it does not show up in the ICS file. Just a person between forms and data on the front page of my site. seemed a good idea, no?

This, of course added in another form, an admin form that would let me approve or dissapprove anything submitted. This was a basic form, really since only I was going to be seeing it. I simply change the DB variable of APPROVED from NO to YES. Then when the ical.php file pulls the information, the check code will keep it from, or now allow it to be published.

There was one issue with this whole adventure. Seems that PHPIC wouldn’t read the file being generated. Why? because it was a .php file. So I violated the first (and really only) rule of this little adventure and dug into the PHPIC code.

Now I figure this is probably some sort of security hole. I am just not entirely sure how.

A better solution would be to have the php file simply generate the ICS file each time the database is updated, rather than generate it on the fly. While there is a certain bit of safety with that, there is a certain bit of elegance with the single php file being able to provide all the desired calendars.

PS. The PHP file worked in iCal as well.

Firefox: (mozilla.com) Web Browser. The best thing you can do for your computer is not use Internet Explorer. Most viruses/ad/spyware comes in to your machine using exploits through IE. This is _not_ to say that Firefox is immune to this, or that this is the only way to be infected. This is a simple first step at protecting your machine.

AVG (Grisoft.com) Anti-virus. High quality, it will scan your system, scan incomming email and help clean and quarrentine infected files.

Adaware (lavasoftusa.com) Free. This removes ad/spyware from your computer. You know that random pop-up window that appears when you aren’t even in Internet Explorer? this will help with that.

Spybot Seek and Destroy (safer-networking.org) Search and Destroy () Free, use with adaware. Where Adaware shines with adware, spybot shines with spyware. Spyware is used to collect information from your computer and send it to another computer. This is usually bad.

Backup, backup, for the love of all that is holy, backup!

caveat emptor! Becareful of what you download! Where did you find it? Is the site reliable? Has the software been reviewed on other sites? Check these things out. A bad software download can cripple your machine.

Seriously. Back up. Get an external hard drive. Get a thumb drive. Burn CD’s or DVD’s. Print them out! Imagine this, if i came in and took a hammer to your hard drive, what would you lose? what would you need? Now take those things and back them up.

I am a Mac user. The luxury of that at this time is I don’t need any of these things. Linux too provides more security than a Windows machine. The trade-off? You would need to learn a new operating system. Not all your software can be found (and most would need to be repurchased).

The idea being that your creativity shouldn’t be hindered by your wallet. Perhaps you won’t have that sound studio, or that top of the line movie editing deck, but you can get tools that well get you there.

So let’s start with some basics.

You need a word processor. For a writer, this is a part of your creative process. For an artist in general there are countless reasons why you’ll need to sit in front of that blinking cursor, from resumes to reviews. There are two great choices out there that are both open source, and free.

AbiWord (http://abisource.com)

Simple. Light. Easy to use, but still powerful. AbiWord is just a word processor, but it does its job efficiently. Most of the tools you will need are here.

OpenOffice.org (http://openoffice.org)

This is a monolith. Openoffice.org is a competitor for Microsoft Office. It has a word processor, a spreadsheet app, presentation, even web and database tools. There are forums everywhere to help with the program.Templates, tutorials, all availble online. If you are thinking of buying an Office Suite, try this one first (it’s free!) and see what you think.

Both of these programs can save in either MS Word formats (.DOC) or in Open Document Format. The advantage of ODF is that it is an open standard, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to open them down the road. The disadvantage is that Word can’t open them natively, so you may have to convert to DOC or RTF before sending them out to friends or editors.

Are these the only two options? Not a chance. There are lots of open source word processors, and some closed source, but free ones, like Google Docs, for instance.

That’s a start, there will be more as we go along.