[App_rpt-users] Time

[Bryan D. Boyle]

On 8/7/2013 12:50 PM, Tim Sawyer wrote:
> Having the availability to use cron is one of the many great things about app_rpt. 



On 8/7/2013 12:50 PM, Tim Sawyer wrote:
> Having the availability to use cron is one of the many great things
> about app_rpt.

Absolutely right, Tim, and, IMHO, what sets a* apart from the
iron-monger controllers (no insult implied to those wedded to
them...just a fact) but is also what does tend to scare non-bit-bangers
away from it.  It's almost TOO flexible.

<sermon>

being able to chronologically (hence 'cron') schedule events on an OS
level, pass values to running processes, and write code in whatever
flavor (sh? bash? cshell? PERL? awk? etc) to do things apart and in
support of the core a* application makes this thing so powerful.

For instance, and not to hijack the thread...I grab text weather via
wget scripts, parse the text with perl, run through cepstral, and call
it via DTMF codes (or, in the case of new alerts, play immediately)
24x7.  Imagine my surprise a couple years ago, driving cross country,
and hearing the same thing (weather alert...) in pretty much the same
order and obviously derived from my initial attempts, on a machine half
way between here and KC?  Neat stuff.

Other scripts download Newsline, break into 3 minute chunks, and store
for playback with proper IDs at top and bottom.  Still working on
perfecting it.

Look at Tim's Allmon.  Simple web app, powerful implications.

Others reset the OS once a week, and refresh, from the cronjob, the
links, and reset my link config during nets that I don't participate in
but are run on other portions of the net.

I have some authorization-required and encrypted and protected web pages
that take that to the next level and allow me to re-config my net
connections, join nodes, reset the system from my mobile phone.

And, it's all done through imagination, scripting, passing values to
asterisk, resetting conf files, etc.

Only IS limited by your imagination; remember, you're not running an
embedded application with no accessible OS underneath it.  You're
running an application on top of a flexible and powerful operating
system with a long history of being able to do what it needs to do.  So,
just jump in and try it.

</sermon>

BB