Exciting software – Phun

Continuing from my previous blog Exciting software, here’s another one.

Phun is a very clever 2D physics engine. With realistic water movement, gravity, friction and tweakable. The interface is actually very intuitive to. A very nice user experience.

See a video here:

And you can actually try the software from here:
http://www.acc.umu.se/%7Eemilk/

I’ve found it to be very impressive, easy to use and accurate.

Let me know what you think.

Hacking the Asus MiniBook – or Having some programmer fun.

I’ve been playing around with my new Asus miniBook and thought I’d share a few tips with you:

Tip 1:
This is basically a Linux build, so it must have a command line interface… and it does. Just press Ctrl-Alt-T to get it up.

Tip 2:
So if it’s Linux were is the interface then? It’s there you just need to install a few apps to see it. It will only use an additional 6 Megabytes, and you can always set it back later. Make sure you have internet access too – if you use a proxy server you’ll have to enter that before attempting this.. So: Open a command line (Tip 1) and type:

  • “sudo apt-get update” – To update your repositories of software to the latest ones
  • “sudo apt-get install kicker” – To get the first little app you’ll need, press ‘Y’ when asked.
  • “apt-get install ksmserver” – For the second little app, again press ‘Y’ when asked.
  • “exit” – to leave the screen.

Now if you press the power button you’ll see another option on the left, click this to boot into full mode. (Note, that it will only boot into full desktop the next time you start the machine, normally it will boot into the simple interface, this shouldn’t be a problem because it literally takes seconds to boot anyway)

Tip 3:
The camera. The built in camera is actually turned off by default to save battery power. Some software will realise this and turn it on automatically but others won’t and you’ll have to do it yourself. A quick way to turn the hardware on is with a quick text command, open a command line and type:

  • “sudo echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/camera”

Replace the ‘1’ with a ‘0’ (zero) to turn it back off.

Tip 4 :
Skype Video. There’s currently a beta version of Skype available for the Linux system, you’ll have to upgrade to this one to get video calls as the currently installed one doesn’t have it. You can get it from here:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/download/skype/linux/beta/choose/
select the xandros edition.

UPDATE: There is now a released version of Skype with all the video goodness already included. Get it from here:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/download/skype/linux/

When you’ve downloaded this installer (It should be in your “My Documents” folder) run it using the File Manager or through the command prompt. Now you can launch Skype from the same place as before. Don’t forget to turn on the camera (Tip 3) before you run it though.

If I think of any more I’ll post them here. If you have some of your own, please let me know.

Big Thinking

Just thought I’d drop in a link to my current favourite website:
http://www.bigthink.com

It’s basically a lot of questions, but you get the opportunity to add your own, leave a response to another, or start a debate about another one.

Makes you think – which has got to be a good thing.

Me Tree – The family.

Just installed “PhpGedView” to my website.

It’s a really nice genealogy package built on php. You can see it here: http://www.akademy.co.uk/gd/

Most of the information has been locked down, but if you want a log in – and I know who you are – feel free to request one.

I have 153 people on my tree, most of the information is on my fathers side. It includes 43 different surnames, the earliest individual dates back from 1753!

However, when I have the time I’m planning on expanding the information about each person, because just a name from 200 years ago means almost nothing – the question is “Who were they?” and “what did they do?”

Photo Websites – Photobucket, DropShots, Webshots and Flickr

Intro
I’ve been looking into photo websites so I can stick my photos up for the world to see. I decided the easiest way to pick was to try several out at once to see which ones I like.

I’ve been using Webshots for some years but not quite happy with it, so I decided to test these three Photo Websites (in alphabetical order):

  • DropShots
  • Flickr
  • PhotoBucket

To compare each I signed up for a free account, and therefore the information here is based on the free account. You can see each of my accounts here:

My Favourite
In the end I felt Flickr was the one for me. I’ve detailed why below.

Flick is one of the most popular photo websites and is populated by people who really take photos seriously. The free account gives you a good feel for all the functionality the payfor account does, unfortunately the free account restricts the amount of data you can upload per month to just 100 Mb – a visit to the local zoo would soon use this up – so this makes the free account mostly unusable, photobucket has the best free account, if you don’t mind the speed and all the ads.

Flickr does have some nice features though. You can tag your photos with words but or by position on the Yahoo world map (called “Geo tagging”) and all with a rather nice and simple drag and drop interface making it easy to organiseyour photos (none of the other websites are this easy). You can also divide you photos in to numerous sets (which are like folders) and the same photos can be placed in more than one set – for example: Your zoo outing could be one set with the inevitable animal shots also being dropped into your “Wildlife” set too – (You only get a total of three sets in the free account). There’s also collections, which Flickr says are like “Sets of sets but better than that” but these aren’t available in the free account. Basically, it allows you to collect together groups of related sets, and groups of other collections. (This again is unique on Flickr, the other websites only have single sets.)

The web upload is pretty basic with a few text boxes which is a shame as you could feasibly use this a lot if you upload on holiday. (PhotoBucket excels here, with easily the best online uploader – although it technically it downloads and runs a program inside your browser) The installed version Flickr’s upload program is quick and simple to use, very similar to all the other websites.

One thing that Flickr excels in is its great API – this, together with its many uses, means that many applications, both online and off, have been created to use your photos – check out places like FaceBook or download a screensaver for your computer. It also means you can write you own unique photo app and from experience they have made it very straight forward.

One negative is it’s lack of video, this goes against all the other websites. I think this is mostly due to them trying to concentrate on the Photos and not wanting to become another YouTube, it would be good to store my holiday videos right next to my holiday photos. (Note however, that Flickr has said it will soon be doing this… I’ll update when know)

Summary
Here’s a quick list of the good and bad points for each.

DropShots
Good: Simple unique timeline interface, quick, ad free, video, drag drop interface.
Bad: Basic features, single sets, free account limited, no api.
Recommend: For beginners or people not to confident with photo websites.

Flickr
Good: Multiple sets, Installed upload, geo tagging, api, drag drop interface
Bad: No video, online upload, free account useless.
Recommend: For people series about photos, people who what to do a lot with their photos, programmers and people with a fascination with categorising everything.

PhotoBucket
Good: Free account unlimited photos, video, geo tagging, online upload excellent
Bad Slow, Full of ads, single sets, no api.
Recommend: For people who don’t want to pay anything and just want to show them off but have a ton of photos.

Webshots
Good: Free account useful, video, upload useful. Good screensaver/desktop changer
Bad: A few adverts, single sets, no open api.
Recommend: For people who want a free account but don’t like tons of adverts. Also has a very nice screensaver program.

Let me know…

… which ones you like, hate, recommend and stay clear off.

It's Christmas time.

Merry Christmas to you!

And for those who know me, here’s some Christmas present suggestions, in no particular order:

  • Coffee Table / Nest of tables
  • 32 Inch Flat screen TV
  • Bookcase/ shelving.
  • Desk (But not a computer one!)
  • Sofa bed / guest bed.
  • Rug
  • Wall clock (Quiet one, i.e. no tick noise!)
  • Electricity saving devices
  • Digital TV recorder
  • Home Cinema system
  • DAB Radio
  • Compact Hifi System
  • Copmuter camera
  • Cordless Telephone
  • Garden lounger (for relaxing and star gazing!)
  • A stupid / gadget / game / waste of time.
  • Board Game
  • Drawing lessons / tools
  • New Scientist subscription
  • Nintendo DS
  • Wii Game
  • Book
  • DVD
  • Puzzle
  • Jigsaw
  • Cinema Tickets
  • Bird Table
  • Asus MiniBook
  • Desktop computer. (But see above about desks…)

Or just anything fun.

RM Asus Eee (by gum) PC – The miniBook.

Just got my hands on a new RM Asus miniBook machine today – how cute the little fellow looks!

My first impressions are that it is certainly a capable machine which you can take anywhere with you. The Keyboard is very small but I got used to it – I’d recommend the two finger entry approach. It uses a linux operating system.

Here’s a size comparison of the miniBook with the book (which I now propose should be an official standard size) “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, The miniBook is slighly longer, slighty deeper but about half as thick:

Harry Potter book and miniBook side view

Harry Potter book and miniBook top down

Harry Potter book and miniBook open

And here’s a comparison with my 17 Inch Widescreen Dell laptop (Which was somewhere in the region of 8 times more expensive…):

Laptop and miniBook side-by-side

Laptop and miniBook together


Easy Mode

Here’s some pictures of the Easy Mode the computer boots up into, it’s basically a list of tabs of applications split by type.

The Internet tab (Includes for example FireFox and Skype):
Internet Tab

The Work Tab (Includes for example OpenOffice and FileManager)
Work Tab

The Learn Tab (Includes Subjects folders which include for example a planetarium and fraction Tutorial)
Learn Tab

The Play Tab (Includes for example Games folder and Media Player)
Play Tab

The settings Tab
Settings Tab

There’s also a favourites tab where you can add your favourite apps.

Apps
And here’s a few screenshots of a select applications, all as they appear with out any tweaking.

OpenOffice Writer:
Writer

Frozen-Bubble Game (Screenshot slightly cut off, the game runs in full screen)
Frozen-Bubble

FireFox:
Firefox

The explorer (The observant amongst you will have noticed how similar some of the shots look to WindowsXP – Check the title bars out, and especially this screenshot)
Explorer

I’ll be following up with some tips on using the Asus miniBook soon.

Let me know…
…what your experience’s of the machine have been.

Top 10 developer tools or "What every developer should have installed and bookmarked"

I never seem to program enough at work and as such I’ve needed to collect a whole toolkit full of apps to help me with all the other things developers seem to have to do.

So here’s a list of some of the type of apps that you’ll want to get hold of, these should really help you with all those none programmer tasks.

Apps
Here’s the list every good developer should not be without, in not particular order:

  • File and folder comparer
  • Source control
  • Archiver
  • Browser (and search engine)
  • Office Suite
  • Paint Package
  • Text file reader
  • Calculator
  • FTP Client
  • Bug tracker

And here’s some quick recommendations:

File and folder comparer
Essential when you’re not quite sure which version of your program is the newest, or which file is missing from a long list.

I’d recommend: Beyond Compare. I find it to be an excellent comparison tool which can be extended to include image comparison and others. It’s one of the few pieces of Software I don’t mind purchasing – remember to also download some of the enhancements like the image comparer. You could also try WinMerge, or TortoiseMerge.

Source Control
Not just for your application creations, source control can be used to keep track of all files. Keep track of your documentation or website, or keep a log of all the changes you’ve done in the novel you keep trying to write.

I’d Recommend: Subversion. A free open source’ source control, very useable and out performs many expensive packages you might have. I’d also recommend TortoiseSVN which complements Subversion nicely. You could also try SourceSafe (if you like punishment) or Perforce.


Archiver
Transporting files is always easier when they are zipped up, and software always needs backing up and the easiest way to do both of these and save upload times and disk space is to archive them.

I’d recommend: IZArc. It opens up lots of archive formats, even allowing direct editing of things like Google Gadgets. It also allows zipping up with the 7z format, my archive format of choice (much better compression than zip and open standard). You could also try WinZip or 7Zip.

Browser (and search engine)
Findng how to copy a file or reorder an array has never been easier. Just open your browser and type in the questions.

I’d recommend: Firefox. It’s a great browser which can be enhanced just about anyway you want. (Try the FireBug extension, and see FTP below). You could also try Opera, or Internet Explorer.

Office Suite
At some point you’ll need to write some documentation, either before during or after any project you’re working on. And you know you’ll have to create a report in a spreadsheet, maybe with some nice graphs that don’t mean much but look pretty.

I’d recommend: OpenOffice. It does everything you’ll need and comes to you free of charge. It contains the full suite of apps you would expect in an office collection. You could also try StarOffice (Although almost identical) or Microsoft Office.

Paint Package
At some point you’ll need to include a picture or too in your app, but you can pretty much guarantee that !. It will be the wrong size and 2. It will be the wrong format. In these cases you’ll be glad you’ve got your own tools to sort them out quickly avoiding another game of email tennis.

I’d recommend: Paint.Net. This was a hard one to decide as actually Paint that comes with windows usually does the job well enough with out anything else. However, occasionally you’ll want to do a bit more than just change Size and Format, and in these cases you’ll want something a little more powerful. You might also like Paint (as previously stated) or GIMP (Which I use to manipulate my photos but don’t use much at work)

Text file reader
Files are either binary or text, if it’s text then you’ll need a good app to edit the numerous types there is (e.g. txt, javascript, ini, bat, xml, cpp, html).

I’d recomment: Notepad++. It’s a tab based edited, but with all the usual enhancements you’d expect like drag and dropping of text and auto formatting of different programming languages. You could also try, Notepad2(which is actually based on the same engine ans notepad++, but slightly different interface) or WordPad (Free with Windows)

Calculator
Programming is adding up, that’s all it really is in the end. If you can’t do Maths then don’t bother trying programming. However, just because you can add up doesn’t mean you want to be working everything out in your head…

I’d recommmend: Casio FX 85 ES. Yes that’s a real calculator! You can’t beat a really calculator sitting on your desk for ease of access and use. However, if you really need a software one then the free microsoft one is pretty much all you’ll need, it’s got a useful conversion of hexadecimal, binary and decimal (Though I don’t know why anyone outside of programming land would want that). There’s a google gadget scientific calculator you could also try.

FTP Client
A good ftp client can save you a lot of trouble and there’s no doubt you’ll have to send someone a couple of files, or upload to a web location, or download a new patch for the website you’re looking after.

I’d recommend: FireFTP. It’s actually an add on to the Firefox browser. It does the job as good as any other ftp client I’ve used. SmartFTP is rather good although not free and you could also FileZilla.

Bug tracker
And finally. It may not be the most interesting item on here, but it sure helps when you’re creating software, you’ll know you’ll need one eventually as no one’s perfect, and certainly not any ones code.

I’d recommend: Bugzilla. It’s used by thousands of projects because it’s easy to use and very accessible. You could also try Mantis or (if your rich, have a huge tester team and someone to keep it all running) TestDirector.

And that’s the lot
I’ve only recommend the ones that I have used quite considerably. I’m quite picky about the software I use and usually end up trying a dozen different apps to find the right one. However, not doubt your tastes will be slightly different, so I’ve also recommend some of my second choices.

Let me know…
…your favourites and your essential tools.

Another move?

Yep, I’ve moved house again. Finally got out of the middle of town. No it’s just a few minutes home for me. No more traffic – terrific!

I’ve moved into a nice little cottage now, exposed beams and all. I was staring at the ceiling in my living room the other day, and It took me that those beams look just like a skeleton. The exposed bones of the house. Just though I’d share that with you.

Also, I just thought I’d complete my broadband NTL posts which I started back in December. I have to admit that since the orginal setup (which they utterly messed me around with) it was running as smoothly as I could hope for. Perhaps Virgin taken them over really picked up there customer care? Who knows…

Well that’s me for now.