New Project: electronic logbook for Unix

[John Peterson <jaypee@netcom.com>]

   I wanted to announce that I have started on the development
of a simple electronic logbook for Unix/Linux using Thomas Driemeyer's
xmbase-grok database manager. If you haven't used grok before, you can
find it at

		http://www.IN-Berlin.DE/User/bitrot/grok.html

It's a user friendly database manager designed for small applications
(say a few 1000 records) where postgresql or the like is overkill. It's
perfect for rolodex files, bibliographies, html bookmarks, etc. BTW, it
requires the motif (or lesstif?) widgets.

   It had been awhile since I had used grok, but after a couple hours of
tinkering to refresh my memory, I concluded this approach would give users
95% of what they would want. The built in entry forms editor would also
allow simple modifications by end users to suit personal tastes.

   Personally, I'm still not convinced of the utility of electronic
logbooks. As some have pointed out, you still need a paper logbook for
endorsements with signatures. In my experience, it's not uncommon for
an FBO to ask to see my logbook to verify recent experience, and I
don't own a laptop! The real advantage I see is when you are very close
to the 90 day limit for carry passengers, or need to compute total time
in type, etc and would rather not do the mental juggling or arithmetic.
These sorts of things appear to be easily impremented using the grok
approach.

   With my current schedule, I dont expect to have anything ready for
at least a couple of weeks. However, I didn't want to have duplicate
efforts going on. Also, if you'd like to help in some way, drop me a
note.

Regards, John

-- 
 ___|___  | John C. Peterson, KD6EKQ | The box said; "requires Windows NT
  -(*)-   | mailto:jaypee@netcom.com | 4.0 or better", so I installed Linux.
  o/ \o   | San Diego, CA   U.S.A    | See http://www.linux.org/ for info.
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