JD Underground

Read Post
Fri, 22 Aug 2025 06:21:51 -0700
Andy from private IP, post #12884227

React 
 Like 
 Love 
 Haha 
 Wow 
 Sad 
 Angry  
/all
We are re-imagining the law firm portal as a X11 application that runs over SSH using the X protocol

Second only to Infinity Stone, this is my greatest programming idea of all time.  I thought of this because (1) all the employees at the law firm have Macs,
which have built-in XQuartz (X11), and (2) I have Linux at the office and Mac at home, so there is not a single Windows computer in the firm and no barriers to
this.

Essentially, the new portal application will centralize the compute on a server, and the remote clients will all be "thin clients" connecting over SSH using X11
forwarding.  This will greatly simplify and reduce the hardware requirements, which are already pretty low considering that all the employees have Mac Mini
computers and they access the firm portal with a web browser.  They only really need Word, Acrobat, Thunderbird, Firefox, and TeX right now.  With the new
application, that will knock out Thunderbird and Firefox, although people will still probably use Thunderbird due to its many features.  And TeX will be part of
the system, though in a separate app.

This system will enable many cool features, such as:

1.  Automated ACARS-style messages (thanks @phositaTest for the inspiration) in
the portal showing where people are and when key events occur (example: attorney arrives at court, attorney is in court for N minutes, attorney leaves court,
attorney arrives back at the office).  This will be done with an app on the firm-issued phones that reports GPS at regular intervals and upon geofencing events
occuring.

2.  Continuous updates, automated check-out and check-in of files for editing, and centralized command-oriented dispersion of information, rather than the
current patchwork of files on people's desktop computers that they have to manually upload to the portal.

3.  Limitless NFS storage in a storage cluster.

4.  One-click publishing, document sharing, and many other features that I probably haven't even thought of yet.

I am very excited about this, and I look forward to working with our in-house software engineer on it.  I bought him several books on Xlib and the X11 protocol,
which are the starting point.  GTK doesn't perform very well over SSH, unfortunately, otherwise we would certainly plan to use it.  I can't send screenshots
because XQuartz doesn't have a compatible screenshot tool, sadly.  I spent a couple of hours this morning trying to make that work, but to no avail.  Lol.

#LawFirm #Programming #Technology 


Fri, 22 Aug 2025 06:25:11 -0700
Andy from private IP
Reply #10642618

React 
 Like 
 Love 
 Haha 
 Wow 
 Sad 
 Angry   👍 
Side note, the X11 app with SSH forward is vastly more secure than a web portal, that is one big reason for this.


Fri, 22 Aug 2025 21:33:22 -0700
phosita from private IP
Reply #13623745

React 
 Like 
 Love 
 Haha 
 Wow 
 Sad 
 Angry  
Ah, ssh port forwarding. Brings back memories.  Everything old is new again.


Sat, 23 Aug 2025 18:16:37 -0700
Andy from private IP
Reply #18069765

React 
 Like 
 Love 
 Haha 
 Wow 
 Sad 
 Angry  
This is going to be great.  We are using 1980's technology and filling a need that is unmet.  The system is going to be unbelievably blazing fast because it
will use Xlib.  Although it will look like it came from the '80s, it will be modern and secure, and meet all our requirements.  What more do I need?


Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:17:16 -0700
phosita from private IP
Reply #15630922

React 
 Like 
 Love 
 Haha 
 Wow 
 Sad 
 Angry   👍 
You know what? Honestly user interfaces peaked back in those days.  Slim, fast, no frills stuff that had to run on what by today's standards is minimal
hardware. Bring that back, I say. On days I live mainly in an xterm, forays back into the gui bloativerse feel jarring.

Heck, this site would be awesome in the style of usenet.


Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:18:35 -0700
Andy from private IP
Reply #19004289

React 
 Like 
 Love 
 Haha 
 Wow 
 Sad 
 Angry  
@phositaTest I can probably make that happen.  Would be cool to have it laid out
as a BBS instead of a website.  Or maybe that would be an option.


 @10642618 2604:2d80:ea8e:4700:a829:f186:f3fe:d081 👍 @15630922 47.157.45.9 👍
Replies require login.