Messages

326

Living Room / Re: Earthquake

« on: April 18, 2008, 08:44 PM »

for some reason, if you stick "habanero savina" into google, with the quotes, this post ends up #1

327

Living Room / Re: Earthquake

« on: April 18, 2008, 03:33 PM »

<@mouser> i think sham is trying to kill me finally.

328

General Software Discussion / Re: Vista Aero vs. Linux Compiz

« on: April 15, 2008, 05:08 AM »

I can't speak for Compiz, but I rely heavily on AERO anymore to keep my workflow going (open ~15+ windows and try to talk to 5+ people online at once and see how far you go before you ponder insanity). Several applications I use rely on the AERO interface to run (Switcher, for example). I hate having to use an XP machine anymore because I lose not only the "feeling", but also the capabilities that I have to utilize. No little pop-up images of programs in alt-tab or over taskbar buttons. No 3D window flipping. ObjectDock window previews don't work without AERO. The list goes on. And plus, it is just way more eye-catching than a big blue taskbar (or the gray one on Xubuntu).

-wreckedcarzz (April 14, 2008, 06:40 PM)

Funny you should say that,
I feel the exact opposite,...
I'm so used to 2d GUI's and minimalism, that whenever I get too much eye candy on my desktop I start to miss the 2d feel. And honestly most of it seems very impractical to me. I like the snappyness of a simple gui. I don't want to wait the extra 10ms for some thing to fade or flip or whatever other effect. Also, I find that many times the added visual complexity just works counter-productive. I have used compiz for about 2 weeks or so, until I finally got rid of it. At first I really loved it. The eye candy is really beatiful. I had the rotating 3d cube, wobbly windows, etc,.. It was very pleasing to the eye, however, after a while when the novelty wore off, I had to get rid of it, simply because I felt i was working less efficient.

[Off topic]
I've been using GNU/Linux as main OS for everything now. I havent' touched windows in a very long time and every time I do it feels very clumbsy. I couldn't imagine ever using it as a production OS anymore.

As far as wifi goes, I only recently started to use wifi, and I must say I'm impressed with the quality of the GUI tools. Using a linksys pcmcia card, which was immediatly detected. I never had to touch a config file. I'm sure it won't be the case with all hardware, but out of the 4 computers I run Gnu/Linux on, not a single one has had problems with drivers or hardware. It must be just me.

I'm honestly a bit dissapointed that this topic started with such immediate Linux bashing(which seems to be a trend lately in any topic remotely related to Linux) while instead it was about Compiz and Aero.

Obviously some people have a lot of beef with it, and for other people it works great, somehave a lot of beef with the mainstream OSes... I think we've been beating the dead horse enough now,...

329

Developer's Corner / Re: SkyIDE - Latest Release Information

« on: April 14, 2008, 08:08 PM »

 

330

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming in the Linux operating system: where to start?

« on: April 12, 2008, 01:04 AM »

it's pretty irrelevant if you're doing web apps or database clients, etc. Heck, even in native C++ you can go a long way without needing to use (or at least know much about) pointers.

It's indeed not needed for web apps, but then I never really considered that programming... more like scripting

I think it's a really bad idea to do any serious C++ programming, or even VB programming without knowledge of memory usage, pointers, interrupts and the general ways a computer really works.

It is true you can go a very very long way without knowing any of this stuff. You could build a whole career as a programmer without knowing any of it.

But it would be a very very bad thing imo. Knowing as much as possible is always better. Knowing something about the code your compiler produces will definitively help you at some point.

Saying asm or C is like old stuff nobody should know, is like saying nobody needs to know world history, or saying you don't need to know geography. Pleny of people can lead perfectly good lives without knowing anything about the world they live in. But it's really sad for example when only 37% of Americans can locate Iraq on a map, while they are at war with it. It's the same thing really.

331

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming in the Linux operating system: where to start?

« on: April 11, 2008, 03:33 PM »

Only knowing asm or only knowing procedural programming is definitively bad for your mental health

But it's still important to know what an interrupt or a pointer is, and to know enough about memory management, even if your programming language takes care of all that for you.

It's a bit of a catch-22 isn't it? start with ASM or C and risk having your mind poisoned against OOP, and start with a high level language, and risk not ever wanting to learn about lower level concepts.

Perhaps in the end it doesn't matter what you start with, and experience is the only thing that counts.

There's too many opinions on what's good or bad out there, and they all have some validity.

332

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming in the Linux operating system: where to start?

« on: April 10, 2008, 09:13 PM »

dont start with assembly. don't stop at assembly, just keep on walking past masochism alley.  find a high-level language you like and start there.

-mouser (April 10, 2008, 08:31 PM)

I'm all for high level languages, I'm just not sure if they are good to start with. I think it is very important to know what's behind them. Maybe the ideal would be to do both a high level and a low level language at the same time.

333

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming in the Linux operating system: where to start?

« on: April 10, 2008, 08:24 PM »

Should you really start with something easy when learning to program though?
It's probably best to start at the lowest level possible (asm?) and move up from there, so you get a good understanding of each level of programming and generation of programming language. It's probably too easy to develop bad habits otherwise.

334

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox : frames and other graphics disappear in DonationCoder.com's layout

« on: April 10, 2008, 04:21 PM »

Strange problem.
My first thought was a stylesheet not loading.. but it almost seems like there's more going on...
Anyone experiencing this in any other browsers?

335

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming in the Linux operating system: where to start?

« on: April 10, 2008, 04:19 PM »

Python's rightful place is as C++'s slave (it's great to add scripting functionality to c++ applications, but I wouldn't write the actual application in it.)

But that's just me I guess

336

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox : frames and other graphics disappear in DonationCoder.com's layout

« on: April 10, 2008, 06:26 AM »

Strange, I use firefox all the time (2.0.0.13) but have never experienced that?
Are you using FF3 perhaps?

337

Living Room / Re: Game: Traveler IQ Challenge

« on: March 30, 2008, 03:35 PM »

fun little game though i was kind of unprepared for how fast it makes you chose, and how small the map is.
_{[ only got to level 5, 29546 points (level6 needs 30k) on the first try... that's kind of bad, for how much of this stuff was crammed into my mind in school ]}

338

Living Room / Re: 1s y0ur $0n a c0#pu73r h3x0r??

« on: March 29, 2008, 02:00 AM »

I remember seeing this years ago..
(btw, Yes, it was a hoax.)

The funniest thing is/was the comments. They fall into a few categories:

• People who sarcastically say something along the lines of: Great advice!
• People who sincerely say something along the lines of: Great advice!
• people who didn't get the joke, and attack or try to educate the author about how aol is not a trusted and responsible isp, or how it's spelled Linux, not lunix, etc... (I find these the funniest, because they try to be smart, when in fact they turn out to be stupid for not getting the joke)
• People who got the joke.

There was quite a few similar articles released around that time, along the lines where you wonder, 'is it real or not'. Lovely stuff

339

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Tolipo - todo list for programmers

« on: March 28, 2008, 08:19 PM »

I've started using it again as a breakdown tool / personal todo list alongside the bugtracking tool we use.

Cool! I haven't had too much time lately to do much coding on my projects. But keep me updated on features you'd like me to implement for the future

340

General Software Discussion / Re: check server to see if its up

« on: March 27, 2008, 03:35 PM »

Unfortunately it will be a piece of crap that is as slow as molasses as it is hacked out in Python. Why don't you use a real language like C++. 

-tinjaw (March 27, 2008, 08:58 AM)

Well the GUI app IS coded in C++, I use python as a scripting language for plug-ins which is how it's supposed to be used, being a scripting language and all that.

It is kind of cool how easy it is to integrate into C++..


edit by jgpaiva: removed https of the image's link

341

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming in the Linux operating system: where to start?

« on: March 26, 2008, 08:47 PM »

First decide what language you want to code in.

I have been developing cross-platform applications on GNU/Linux using the wxwidgets library. This lets me compile my applications for other platforms without having to re-code anything. wxWidgets also uses a native-look (it uses the native operating system to render the controls instead of drawing it's own like QT and GTK do.), so it looks integrated into the platform. You can also use this from python and a few other languages.

As far as IDE's go, I have used eclipse and kdevelop in the past, but mostly I just stick with vim and emacs.

342

Living Room / Re: a 3D game that is only 97kb!

« on: March 20, 2008, 12:04 AM »

Very impressive. I'm hoping to see more of this procedural stuff in commercial games so we don't keep having to get bigger harddrives

343

General Software Discussion / Re: Inkscape

« on: March 20, 2008, 12:02 AM »

I use it frequently on GNU/Linux. No problems as far as stability, but it seems it can do with some additional features / or integrate existing 'hidden' features better into the GUI.

344

General Software Discussion / Re: What’s this "Linux" thing and why should i try it?

« on: March 19, 2008, 11:48 PM »

You're complaining about people who are trying Linux ... In a thread that's about "Why You Should Try Linux".

I wasn't complaining about people trying GNU/Linux. I was complaining about people who don't have the time to spend to learn a new way of doing things, and instead of just saying they are just used to the OS they have been using and don't have the time to learn something new, they immediately dismiss the alternative as 'crap' because they aren't used to it.
___

I find it very exciting to have more cross platform applications out there these days, and that as a result of that, there will be more co-operation and compatibility between all the OS flavors.

There are some very great cross-platform development toolkits out there, making it easier for developers to make and maintain their cross-platform applications.

Especially in the commercial software market, there has always been this humongous fear that making and maintaining a cross platform application is a tremendous task requiring much more money and development time.

This is no longer the case in my opinion. Some of my C++ applications compiled instantly without modification on GNU/Linux, Windows, BSD, and Solaris. Many toolkits such as qt, gtk, wxWidgets, etc, are making this so much less painful, and I really do believe we will be seeing more cross platform stuff out there, not just in the Free/Open Source arena.

It sounds exciting to me, to be able to run your OS of choice, keep your way of doing things, and be able to run any application on it. Users of different Operating Systems can share plug-ins, software experiences on forums like this one, etc,... It will definitively help tear down some of the barriers that exist now between the users of different operating systems.

345

Living Room / Re: HA! There ARE People in the Film Industry that are NOT Idiots!!!

« on: March 19, 2008, 07:46 AM »

episodes 1~4 can be seen for free according to their FAQ

346

General Software Discussion / Re: What’s this "Linux" thing and why should i try it?

« on: March 19, 2008, 05:06 AM »

yes, wasting!, since it doesn't give much real benefit

It does give real benefit, but the benefit isn't useful to your average joe user.
Portage lets you compile many packages directly from cvs/svn, and have the result managed by your package management. It's also very easy to apply/manage patches when everything is compiled from source. Which is great if some patch for a security problem is released and you want to fix it before your repositories have the fix, which is impossible with binary distributions unless you want to compile your own stuff and have it not managed by your package management, which always comes to bite you in the ass anyway. When I find myself on a binary distro, I find myself compiling half of the stuff I need from source anyway, manually. It drives me bonkers to not have it supported by my package management system. If you're doing development it just makes sense. For 'normal' desktop users it doesn't. I find the whole optimization stuff just as much bullshit as the next guy, since the benefit is minimal. But there are definitively countless other advantages.

Like I said before, if you're relatively new to GNU/Linux, or if you're not very proficient in it, and you don't have the time to spend to learn a new system, then just stick to what you're using, instead of trying it for 2 days and then coming back to complain in forums. It requires you to edit config files. Deal with it. That's just way it's built. Just like windows makes you use GUI's. You don't see me bitching in forums about windows making me use a GUI, and I HATE GUI'S for configuring stuff  So, I just don't use windows. As simple as that.

347

Living Room / Re: mysterious Codex Transportica book found - i have the website to prove it.

« on: March 15, 2008, 06:01 AM »

Wonderful artwork! 

348

General Software Discussion / Re: What’s this "Linux" thing and why should i try it?

« on: March 13, 2008, 11:49 AM »

I've been using GNU/Linux as both desktop and server OS for years now.
I'm at the point where I'm much less productive in windows, and generally get really frustrated using it. Even though once upon a time I used to use and develop in it frequently.

In my experience, setting up things the way you want it takes much longer in GNU/Linux, but the end result is ever so much worth every single minute spent.

I don't really like going into the whole Freedom debate since it is a minefield full of opinions. Some see the GPL as freedom and others see it as restrictive. It's probably both! It prevents developers from making non-Free(as in freedom) software (don't forget you can still sell software for money under the GPL.). This creates a situation where a vast array of Free development libraries is available which you can modify, edit, build upon, use, abuse, etc, as long as your program is also free. I think, as a developer, that one restriction for the developer, to make your software Free, is very much worth the restriction (of not being able to make your software non-Free.).

Over the years, "arcane" configuration files are not arcane at all, to me, GUI's feel arcane. This is all a matter of what you're used to, one is not superior over the other.

I don't think any one should push one other into any one operating system. Each OS has it's pro's and con's to different people. Right now there is more windows users on dc than there is GNU/Linux fellows, and I'd love to see DC become a place where both can share their experiences in peace without namecalling and prejudgementalisms (is that a word?  ). Especially now that cross-platform applications are becoming more common and widespread, there is no reason for that not to be possible.

It has to be said though, that the more I grow into one OS the more I outgrow the other, and despite the availability of more cross platform applications, they are still vastly different worlds and require vastly different mindsets to use to their full potential.

349

General Software Discussion / Re: check server to see if its up

« on: March 11, 2008, 04:53 AM »

DC member gothi[c] has been working on a really promising and very cool tool that does this kind of stuff and more -- he should post a progress report and some screenshots.

Yes, I'm continuously working on a scriptable server monitoring system.

Basically, you can write a local or remote sensor plug-in which returns a value.
Custom triggers can be set on the return value of these sensors. When a trigger is triggered, alerts can be sent out via email or sms. These email addresses can be added to a web interface, which also shows a graph over time of each of the sensor values.

Some more advanced scripting can be done with the triggers, for example, return debug information. (eg: return a top (list of processes sorted by cpu load) + running mysql queries + list of connected ip's when the server load is too high) This can be useful for debugging peak problems. (When server load peaks, and by the time you log in to diagnose the problem, all is back to normal).

All of this has a GUI (work in progress) to easily add/create/manage sensors, triggers, and multiple servers. All of it works except for the GUI which is still very much under development.

All of this will be released under GPL whenever I'm "done"

You may also want to have a look at Zenoss which is kind of similar to what I'm doing, except a lot more bloated, and seems to be a horrible cpu hog (it was when I tested it on my server anyway), it's not very easy to install unless you get the payware version. It has some really nice features though.

GUI:



Some shots of web interface:

350

General Software Discussion / Re: Minimize any window to tray on *nix

« on: March 08, 2008, 12:44 AM »

in your style, just put:

[Select]

toolbar.height: 30px

(or some other value in pixels)
Works like a charm