Every once in a while, I get the urge to use some sort of app to manage my parts: something open source and linux friendly. However, all I seem to find are projects that require you to set up a database and a web based app engine. Wonderful! Fantastic! Complicated. Seriously. Parts management web applications are sufficiently complicated that you might as well pay for someone else to manage it.
So I’m building a desktop application that I can run in linux.
These design goals are meant to keep me on track. I don’t want to build the perfect app. Just something that I can use.
- Make it a tool for a single person.
- Don’t speculate. Design for immediate needs.
- Aim for simple, useable, and good enough.
- Use a well defined format for data storage. That’s the part that needs to last.
Whatever I build is going to look rather underpowered compared to the average ERP/MRP (Enterprise Resource Planning/Materials Requirements Planning) style application. It should. A tool meant to be used by a single person shouldn’t be too complicated. Besides. Sophistication takes time.
Time to scratch that itch.
