in

Distrowar: Fluxbuntu vs. MiniMe

- - 1 comment
Fluxbuntu and MiniMe are ultra-lightweight versions of two equally popular Linux distributions namely Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS. Fluxbuntu is keeping it light by utilizing a Fluxbox window manager as well as other unhefty pre-installed applications. Meanwhile, MiniMe uses a KDE desktop but with minimum out-of-the-box software packages.

It is time once again for our monthly distrowar. As usual, I will be the sole judge, and it’s only me who can decide which will be declared a winner or a loser.

Two distros that I have recently reviewed will take the stage. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Fluxbuntu 7.10 (RC) vs. the MiniMe edition of PCLOS for today’s main event.

I know that it is quite unfair to compare the two, as Fluxbuntu is a distribution on its own, while MiniMe is just a preview of the soon to be released PCLOS 2008. But what the heck! As I always say, this is all just for the spirit of fun so we’re going to push through. Just fasten your seat belts and prepare for battle!

Distrowar Arena (Test Machine Specs):
Board: Intel Corporation D102GGC2
Processor: 3.40 GHz Intel Pentium D
Hard Drive: Samsung 80GB ATA with 8GB allocated to VM disk
Memory: 2GB DDR2 RAM with 256MB allocated to VM memory

Tale of the Tape:
Distro Name: Fluxbuntu / Weight: 306MB (i386.iso)/ Country Origin:USA/ Distro Origin:Ubuntu/ Package Mgt.:DEB/ Default Desktop:Fluxbox/

Distro Name: MiniMe/ Weight: 297MB (i386.iso)/ Country Origin:USA/ Distro Origin:PCLinuxOS/ Package Mgt.: RPM (APT)/ Default Desktop:KDE /

Speed Test:
Installation Time- Winner, MiniMe!
Boot/Start-up Time - Winner, Fluxbuntu!
Responsiveness- Draw!

Decoding:
MiniMe just blew me away with its super quick installation, while Fluxbuntu needed some extra time to fully complete its set-up. Fluxbuntu boots faster (measured from Grub menu to the main desktop) which took about 44 seconds. MiniMe consumed around 53 seconds at boot. MiniMe is very responsive even with its KDE desktop, and Fluxbuntu as expected is the same way receptive. Hence, my verdict for 'responsiveness' is dead heat.

Aesthetics:
Default Theme- Winner, Fluxbuntu!
Extras- MiniMe!
Artwork- Winner, Fluxbuntu!

Decoding:
Fluxbuntu’s default theme and artwork is a winner for me because I just love its clean and simple default look. It truly reflects its ultra-light character. MiniMe is plain looking but it is highly customizable, that is why I gave it the upper hand in the ‘Extras’ category.

Features:
Pre-installed Applications- Fluxbuntu!
Available Packages from Repo- Draw!
Ease of Use- Winner, MiniMe!

Decoding:
Fluxbuntu has a better and greater line-up of pre-installed software applications compared to MiniMe. But, both have plenty of available software packages from their respective repositories. I find MiniMe a lot easier to use based on the ease of installation, newbie-friendly KDE desktop, and very reliable, complete and comprehensible Control Center.

Stability:
Hardware Detection- Winner, MiniMe!
Software Management- Draw!
Error Handling- MiniMe!

Decoding:
Due to some known issues with Fluxbuntu, MiniMe won 'hardware detection' and 'error handling'. MiniMe just works without giving me that much of a hard time configuring all the necessary hardware devices. Software management is a tie since they both performed well in dealing with software packages like downloading, installation, updating, and uninstallation.

Final Score:
MiniMe = 5
Fluxbuntu = 4
*Winner, MiniMe!

Conclusion:
MiniMe won by a very slim margin, a point to be exact. It is not really a convincing win by MiniMe so I would like to give Fluxbuntu the benefit of the doubt. The conclusion was just based IMOP (in my own opinion). Therefore, I would appreciate to hear some views from our dear readers who have tried both MiniMe and Fluxbuntu.

So, that is it for now. Till then and see you on our next Distrowar! :)

Keep Reading
in

MiniMe, a Bite of PCLinuxOS 2008

- - 3 comments
MiniMe as the name implies, is a stripped-down version of PCLinuxOS. It serves as a foretaste of what has yet to come since the development of PCLinuxOS 2008 is still underway. Nonetheless, MiniMe is pretty much functional and can be installed and used as a complete desktop operating system.

I downloaded MiniMe right after it was released because I always find time to try a new version of PCLinuxOS. It was only a 297MB download and you can get it directly from HERE . I tested it using VMWare Server as guest OS on my Xubuntu main workstation. So it was Linux on Linux. I only utilized 256MB of VM RAM, and pre-formatted my VM disk to IDE allocating the default disk size of 8GB. So here’s what I found out about PCLOS 2008 “MiniMe” edition:

Installation:
MineMe is as usual a Live CD, and the installation is handled by a much simplified Draklive-installer. This time, you don’t have to configure the network connection and timezone during the system installation. However, you can set it up later using the ‘Control Center’. I would say that it is by far the easiest Linux distro installation that I have ever experienced. And I can also say that it is one of the fastest, taking only about 10 minutes to complete. The whole installation was flawless and without hardware compatibility issues whatsoever. I then successfully and painlessly set up my Ethernet connection with the help of a graphical network configuration tool.




Look and Feel:
While I love MiniMe’s plain and dark theme or artwork, seen on the grub menu and boot splash image, I hate the default wallpaper because it reminds me of that crappy OS called Vista. Have you heard of it? I don’t know if this was just a silly joke by PCLOS developers aimed at misleading stupid Vista fanboys so that they will unknowingly use a Vista-disguised Linux desktop. Or maybe I'm the one who is stupid because I say all these things :) Anyway, MiniMe uses the complete K Desktop Environment (KDE version 3.5) by default just like PCLOS. I find it very responsive as applications were quick to open or start-up. The default theme is very sleek which is noticeable on the desktop panel and icons. The font is not perfect, although you can easily tweak it later on. The overall look is great, but please don’t show that wallpaper to me again.




Software/Package Management:
Due to its minute size, MiniMe by default lacks desktop productivity applications like office suite and image editing software among others. However, there’s no need to worry as Synaptic Package Manager will easily and reliably assist you in downloading and installing additional packages straight from the vast repositories. Like I did when I successfully added Firefox and used it as the default web browser. One of the greatest if not the greatest feature of a PCLinuxOS distro is its very user-friendly Control Center. It just gives you the ability to easily configure most of your essential software and hardware settings without ever touching the command line. Additional features include an option to create a ‘Remastered CD’ and Live USB key.




Stability:
I have not encountered any major problem while using MiniMe. The only thing I noticed is the rather slow boot time speed compared to other lightweight distributions like Fluxbuntu for example. But since MiniMe is just a preview of PCLinuxOS and is still under development, I want to keep my expectations a little low.


Conclusion:
MiniMe is definitely worth a try. The installation is outstanding, its performance is great, and its ease-of-use is unbelievable. No wonder the popularity of PCLOS keeps on strengthening and its users and community members are steadily growing.

MiniMe is just an appetizer, but I’m already half-full. I can’t wait for the complete version of PCLinuxOS 2008 to come out.

Keep Reading
in

Free and Open Source First-person Shooter (FPS) Games

- - 24 comments
A first-person shooter (Commonly called FPS) is an action-packed video game that involves an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. FPS renders the game world from the visual perspective of the player character. It was one of the first genres to use key technologies such as 3D graphics, online play, and modding. Enhanced realism combined with graphic violence has also made FPS a common topic in ongoing controversies over video games.

I have collected some quality free and open source first-person shooter games. From this list, I have only tried ActionCube, which I really had fun playing with. Hence, I would love to try all of these games someday. Just a little warning to parents though; most of these games are really violent so you better let your little kids sleep first before splurging with these.

Now without any more delay, here's my list of free and open source FPS games:

AssaultCube
AssaultCube, formerly ActionCube sets in a realistic looking environment, as far as that´s possible with this engine, while gameplay stays fast and arcade. This game is all about team oriented multiplayer fun. Although, a single player mode exists which consists of computer-controlled bots. It also includes Cube's map maker which allows for in-game editing.

AssaultCube is available for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. While the Cube engine is free software, parts of AssaultCube, such as the graphics, are proprietary.


Cube
Cube is an open source multiplayer and singleplayer first person shooter game built on an entirely new and very unconventional engine. Cube is a landscape-style engine that pretends to be an indoor FPS engine, which combines very high precision dynamic occlusion culling with a form of geometric mipmapping on the whole world for dynamic LOD for configurable fps & graphic detail on most machines. Uses OpenGL & SDL.

Most of the engine design is targeted at reaching feature richness through simplicity of structure and brute force, rather than finely tuned complexity.


Aleph One
Aleph One (formerly known as the Marathon Open Source Project) is an open-source first-person shooter engine based on the source code of Bungie Studios' Marathon 2: Durandal.

The project commenced in early 2000, when Bungie released the code shortly before being acquired by Microsoft and spurred the fan community to further develop it. Since that time, Aleph One has become a successful project in terms of development and community support. Its name is taken from one of the cardinal numbers (\aleph_1) in mathematics and references Marathon Infinity ("normal" infinity is \aleph_0), the final game in the Marathon Trilogy.


Nexuiz
Nexuiz is a 3d deathmatch game project, created online by a team of developers called Alientrap. It is available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux (all the same archive).The first version was released May 31st 2005, released entirely GPL and free over the net, a first for a project of its kind. Since then it has been downloaded over half a million times, and the game is still being updated and developed, currently at version 2.3 and new releases being developed.


OpenArena
OpenArena is a free and open source 3D computer game that belongs to the "first-person shooter" genre. OpenArena had its first public test release on August 19 2005, the day after the id Tech 3 GPL source code release and also the last day of Quake Expo 2005.

OpenArena is being developed using mainly free and open source software. For instance, its game engine is id Software's GPL id Tech 3. OpenArena is entirely free as in speech. The game engine, game code and data are all free and open content.

It is still in very early development. In addition, a "missionpack" add-on is planned, to take advantage of the GPL'd Quake III: Team Arena source code.


Tremulous
Tremulous blends a team based FPS with elements of an RTS. Players can choose from 2 unique races, aliens and humans. Players on both teams are able to build working structures in-game like an RTS. These structures provide many functions, the most important being spawning. The designated builders must ensure there are spawn structures or other players will not be able to rejoin the game after death. Other structures provide automated base defense (to some degree), healing functions and much more...

Player advancement is different depending on which team you are on. As a human, players are rewarded with credits for each alien kill. These credits may be used to purchase new weapons and upgrades from the "Armoury". The alien team advances quite differently. Upon killing a human foe, the alien is able to evolve into a new class. The more kills gained the more powerful the classes available.

The overall objective behind Tremulous is to eliminate the opposing team. This is achieved by not only killing the opposing players but also removing their ability to respawn by destroying their spawn structures.


Warsow
War§ow or Warsow, often abbreviated as W§W or WSW, is a multiplayer first-person shooter computer and video game first publicly released on June 8, 2005. The game is actively developed by a crew of freelance software developers and artists. War§ow prides itself on high-quality content standards with thorough testing by selected members of the community.War§ow’s codebase is open source software, distributed under the terms of the GPL; it is built upon Qfusion, an advanced modification of the Quake II engine. The artwork and other media is still copyrighted by its respective authors, although it is free to redistribute in its unmodified form.

War§ow is based on the E-novel Chasseur de bots by Fabrice Demurger. The novel is the basis of the game's cyberpunk visual style, which is achieved by combining cel-shaded cartoon-like graphics with dark, flashy and dirty textures. Since visual clarity is important in maintaining competitive gameplay, War§ow tries to keep effects minimalistic, clear and visible.


Sauerbraten
Sauerbraten (a.k.a. Cube 2) is a free multiplayer/singleplayer first person shooter, built as a major redesign of the Cube FPS.

Much like the original Cube, the aim of this game is not necessarily to produce the most features & eyecandy possible, but rather to allow map/geometry editing to be done dynamically in-game, to create fun gameplay and an elegant engine.

In addition to the FPS game which is in a very playable state, the engine is being used for an RPG which is in the preproduction phase. Additionally, Proper Games ltd are the first to use the engine commercially. dot3 labs is a company started by the creators of Sauerbraten that offers commercial support.


If you know of other free and open source first-person shooter (FPS) games that I failed to include here, you can add them via comment.

Keep Reading
in

How to Easily Improve/Enhance Font Rendering in Xubuntu

- - 3 comments
I freshly installed Xubuntu “Gutsy Gibbon” today on my main workstation, which replaced Ubuntu. I just love the speed and simplicity of an Xfce desktop. However, there's a certain problem that I always encounter after a clean install. --It's the font.

I find Xubuntu and even Ubuntu’s default font rendering somewhat ugly compared to that of Windows XP. However, there are many ways to make your Xubuntu font a thing of beauty. Just follow these simple steps to improve or enhance the font rendering:

1. Open a terminal, and then enter the ff. code:

sudo apt-get install libcairo2-dev libxft-dev libfontconfig1-dev
sudo apt-get remove libcairo2-dev libxft-dev
mkdir fontpatches
cd fontpatches
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install libfreetype6 libcairo2 libxft2

2. Restart X-server after installing the packages by pressing CTRL + Alt + Backspace.

3. When Xubuntu comes back, go to Menu -> Settings -> User Interface Settings

4. Turn on sub-pixel hinting and anti-aliasing. Activate also the "Use hinting" option and choose a value of slight, medium or full hinting depending on your preference and your screen resolution. I'm using medium hinting on my 19" monitor that has an optimum resolution of 1440x900.

5. I’m a big fan of Bitstream Vera Sans font, and many have said and testified that it works well with the rendering. Therefore, it is sensible to replace the default ‘Sans’ font.


I hope this will work for you too. Enjoy your new font and notice the big difference.

Keep Reading
in

Holy Programming

- - 1 comment
While looking for some Python codes using Google Code Search (beta), I got bored and remembered an article entitled “F*cking programming”. --A search query using profane words revealed the evil and yet the funny side of the people behind the codes. So, I began to wonder and think of the opposite side or character of programmers. I searched for “God”.

The results were quite surprising. Here are some of them:

/* My caller (my_socketpair) has validated that this is non-NULL */
fd[0] = sockets[0];
fd[1] = sockets[1];
/* I hereby declare this connection open. May God bless all who cross
her. */
return 0;
--View the Complete Code HERE

// God save me from this evilness. Below is a very bad
// function. Its out var is really a nsIComponentManagerObsolete
// but it has been cast to a nsIComponentManager.
// The reason for such uglyness is that this function is require for
// backward compatiblity of some plugins. This funciton will
// be removed at some point.
--View the Complete Code HERE

/* Is this portable? Dear God, spare me from the non-eight-bit
characters. But is it tasteful? */
--View the Complete Code HERE

# this is done to make sure we aren't duplicating a path (let God sort them out)
if (defined $self->get_root_node) {
$self->get_root_node->remove_all_Descendents;
}
--View the Complete Code HERE

#God knows how to handle these... bless them in the RR class.
bless $self, $class;
return $self
--View the Complete Code HERE

/* Restart processing. God knows what's in the new absolute path */
start = __real_path;
end = strpbrk(__real_path, "/\\");
--View the Complete Code HERE

Note: As far as I know, there is nothing like home directory for
the M$ hell. God help the Win95/WinNT users of NSUserDefaults ;-)
--View the Complete Code HERE

// It seems that even for selection of type "None",
// there _is_ a parent element and it's value is not
// only correct, but very important to us. MSIE is
// certainly the buggiest browser in the world and I
// wonder, God, how can Earth stand it?
--View the Complete Code HERE

Isupport *Isupports; /* List of ISUPPORT (005) tokens */
MODVAR char *IsupportStrings[5] = {0,0,0,0,0}; /* If we get more than 5 strings, God help us! */
extern char *cmdstr;
--View the Complete Code HERE

// If SysMem is TRUE, the image should go into system memory. If it is
// FALSE, we will try for video memory. And may God walk at our side in
// the valley of the shadow.
--View the Complete Code HERE

cmp %l1, 'd'
be no_sun4d_here ! God bless the person who
nop ! tried to run this on sun4d.
--View the Complete Code HERE

/* NOTE!! While we possibly slept in sync_dev(), somebody else might have
* added "this" block already, so check for that. Thank God for goto's.
--View the Complete Code HERE

/*
* God help us, we've got to extract the node number from the name
* of the solid that was hit.
*/
--View the Complete Code HERE

/* Conjure up the beast. May God have mercy on our souls. */
view->details->mozilla = gtk_moz_embed_new ();
--View the Complete Code HERE

double evaluate(const node * const src, // God have mercy on my
const node * const dst, // const soul const.
--View the Complete Code HERE


That's why I call it, Holy Programming!

Keep Reading
in

Ways to Remove and Avoid the 'Lame' CommWarrior Virus

- - No comments
As described by F-Secure, CommWarrior is a worm that operates on Symbian Series 60 devices like several Nokia cellphone lines. Phones infected with CommWarrior will start searching for other devices within Bluetooth wireless range and will attempt to send infected SIS files to the discovered devices. CommWarrior will also spread via MMS as it will read the user's local address book for phone numbers and will then start sending MMS messages automatically.

I know that there are already plenty of tutorials available on the web on how to remove the said virus, but I would like to write my own version. I’m doing this because I believe that CommWarrior is still pretty much rampant. Just yesterday, my mother’s Nokia N70 got infected. It would have been costly if I did not know how to disinfect her phone because she would have to send it for repair.

F-Secure listed several CommWarrior variants with corresponding detailed descriptions. They have also given several instructions on how to remove them. So, my tips are basically just in addition to those specified by F-secure.

Removal:

Case 1: If your phone can still be properly turned on, does not hang or freeze, and doesn’t restart/reboot on its own, the best thing to do is download the F- Secure Mobile Anti-Virus and follow the instructions on installation and virus removal.

Case 2: If your phone can’t be properly turned on, keeps restarting on its own, hangs or freezes occasionally, there's no other way to fix it but to "reformat" the phone or do a hard reset. A reformat will wipe out all your saved files from the phone's own memory. To do this:

a. If available, remove the MultiMediaCard (MMC) first. Then, turn the phone off.
b. Turn it on and then immediately hold the green * 3 buttons at the same time . Hold until you will be prompted to reformat, or in other cases until the "Country Select" screen will appear.
c. After reformatting, you can now install the Anti-Virus.
d. Reboot the phone and then activate the Anti-Virus.
e. Reinsert the possibly infected MMC. Run the Anti-Virus and let it clean the phone as well as the MMC. Though, I still think that the best way to clean the MMC is to reformat it.

Prevention:

CommWarrior or just about any other phone viruses are very easy to avoid. Just follow these simple rules:

1. Don’t leave your Bluetooth device "always on".
2. Don’t install applications that came from unknown sources.
3. Don’t download and install applications from "untrusted" websites.

That’s about it. I will leave you with some words of wisdom from the Department of Health :-)

When dealing with computer and phone viruses, or in worst case HIV virus, remember that "prevention is always the best cure".

Keep Reading
in

Free and Open Source IDE Software Applications

- - 4 comments
In computing, a software application that provides complete facilities to computer programmers for software development is called an integrated development environment (IDE). An IDE usually consists of a source code editor, a compiler and/or interpreter, build automation tools, and a debugger. To simplify the construction of a GUI, sometimes a version control system and various tools are integrated. Several modern IDEs also have a class browser, an object inspector, and a class hierarchy diagram, for use with object oriented software development.

Some of the best IDEs are available commercially, like Microsoft’s Visual Studio. However, I prefer using free and open source IDEs because they are mostly resource-efficient and much more flexible compared to their non-free counterpart. Plus, it comes without a price tag. Here are some of my highly recommended free/open-source IDEs:

Boa Constructor
Boa Constructor (a pun on Boa Constrictor / Python) is a cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) for the Python programming language. It includes a graphical user interface (GUI) builder for the wxPython toolkit and also has support for Zope, CVS and SVN. The IDE is available in eight languages and there is internationalisation support for applications. Other features include a source explorer, object inspector, applications (a logical grouping of source files), code completion, code folding, code templates, integrated interpreter and help, profiler and an advanced debugger.

It is itself written in Python, but also supports syntax highlighting of other languages. It uses the Scintilla component for source code editing.


Anjuta
Anjuta is an integrated development environment for the C and C++ computer programming languages, written for the GNOME project.

Anjuta features project management, application wizards, an interactive debugger built over gdb, and a powerful source code editor with source browsing, code completion and syntax highlighting.

The goal of Anjuta DevStudio is to provide a customizable and extensible IDE framework and at the same time provide the implementations of common development tools. libanjuta is the framework that realizes the Anjuta IDE plugin framework and Anjuta DevStudio realizes many of the common development plugins.


GNAT Programming Studio
GNAT Programming Studio (GPS, formerly known as the GNAT Programming System) is a free multi-language integrated development environment (IDE) by AdaCore. GPS uses compilers from the GNU Compiler Collection, taking its name from GNAT, the GNU compiler for the Ada programming language.

GPS is cross-platform, running on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Solaris. GPS uses GTK+ as the widget toolkit for its graphical user interface. Released under the GNAT Modified General Public License, GPS is free software.


Aptana
Aptana IDE is an open source integrated development environment (IDE) for building JavaScript intensive web applications. It includes coding assistance for JavaScript, HTML, and CSS languages, an outliner of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code structure, error and warning notification and the possibility to customize and extend the UI.

This Eclipse-based IDE is available as standalone on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, or as a plugin for Eclipse.


Lazarus
Lazarus is a cross platform Visual Integrated development environment (IDE) which provides a Rapid Application Development (RAD) Delphi clone for Pascal and Object Pascal developers. It is developed for and supported by the Free Pascal compiler.

Distributed under a mix of licences, all of which are free software licences, Lazarus is free software, just as Free Pascal is. Notably among those licences is a modified version of the GNU Lesser General Public License. The modification grants extra permissions to allow Lazarus to be used in proprietary software.


Code::Blocks
Code::Blocks is a free/open source, cross platform IDE. It is developed in C++ using wxWidgets. Using a plugin architecture, its capabilities and features are defined by the provided plugins. Currently, Code::Blocks is oriented towards C/C++.

Code::Blocks is being developed for Windows and Linux. Users have successfully built Code::Blocks under FreeBSD and (to date still with some UI problems) under Mac OS X.

The development releases after May 23rd, 2007 require wxWidgets 2.8.


DrScheme
DrScheme is an interactive, integrated, graphical programming environment for the Scheme, MzScheme, and MrEd programming languages.

DrScheme runs under Windows (95 and up), Mac OS X (10.3 and up), and Unix/X. Download DrScheme.

DrScheme provides source highlighting for syntax and run-time errors, support for multiple language levels, an algebraic stepper, objects, modules, a GUI library, TCP/IP, Unicode, MysterX for COM support under Windows, and much more. It includes an extensive, hyper-linked help system called Help Desk, available from the Help menu. The Tour of DrScheme describes many of these features in greater detail.


Eclipse
Eclipse is an open-source software framework written primarily in Java. In its default form it is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Java developers, consisting of the Java Development Tools (JDT) and the Eclipse Compiler for Java (ECJ). Users can extend its capabilities by installing plug-ins written for the Eclipse software framework, such as development toolkits for other programming languages, and can write and contribute their own plug-in modules. Language packs are available for over a dozen languages.


Emacs
Emacs is a class of text editors that have an extensive set of features and that are popular with computer programmers and other technically proficient computer users.

GNU Emacs, a part of the GNU project, is under active development and is the most popular version. The GNU Emacs manual describes it as "the extensible, customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor." It is also the most portable and ported of the implementations of Emacs. As of 2007, the latest stable release of GNU Emacs is version 22.1. XEmacs is the other major Emacs.


BlueJ
BlueJ is an integrated development environment for the Java programming language, developed mainly for educational purposes, but also suitable for small-scale software development.

BlueJ was developed to support the learning and teaching of object-oriented programming, and its design differs from other development environments as a result. The main screen graphically shows the class structure of an application under development (in a UML-like diagram), and objects can be interactively created and tested. This interaction facility, combined with a clean, simple user interface, allows easy experimentation with objects under development. Object-oriented concepts (classes, objects, communication through method calls) are represented visually and in its interaction design in the interface.


Eric
Eric is a full featured Python and Ruby editor and IDE, written in python. It is based on the cross platform Qt gui toolkit, integrating the highly flexible Scintilla editor control. It is designed to be usable as everdays' quick and dirty editor as well as being usable as a professional project management tool integrating many advanced features Python offers the professional coder.

Current stable version is eric4 based on Qt4. For Qt3 based systems eric3 is still available.


KDevelop
KDevelop is a free software integrated development environment for the KDE desktop environment for Unix-like computer operating systems. KDevelop does not include a compiler; instead, it uses an external compiler such as gcc to produce executable code.

The current version, 3.5, supports many programming languages such as Ada, Bash, C, C++, Fortran, Java, Pascal, Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby. Released under the GNU General Public License, KDevelop is free software.


NetBeans
NetBeans refers to both a platform for the development of Java desktop applications, and an integrated development environment (IDE) developed using the NetBeans Platform.

The NetBeans Platform allows applications to be developed from a set of modular software components called modules. A module is a Java archive file that contains Java classes written to interact with the NetBeans Open APIs and a manifest file that identifies it as a module. Applications built on modules can be extended by adding new modules. Since modules can be developed independently, applications based on the NetBeans platform can be easily and powerfully extended by third party developers.


MonoDevelop
MonoDevelop is a popular, open source integrated development environment for the Linux platform, primarily targeted for the development of software that uses both the Mono and Microsoft .NET framework. MonoDevelop integrates features similar to that of Eclipse and Microsoft's Visual Studio such as "Intellisense", source control integration, and an integrated GUI and Web designer. It currently has language support for C#, Java, Boo, Nemerle, Visual Basic.NET, CIL, and C++.


Quanta Plus
Quanta Plus is a free software web Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for (X)HTML, CSS, XML, PHP and any other XML-based languages, or scripting languages. It features tag completion as you type and tag editing through a dialog interface, script language variable auto-completion, project management, live preview, PHP debugger, CVS support, Subversion support (through external plugin) to name just a few. Quanta is capable of both WYSIWYG design and handcoding. It is part of KDE, released in the kdewebdev package.


If you know of other free and open source IDE software applications, please share them with us via comment.

Keep Reading
in

Top 50 Linux Quotes of All Time

- - 46 comments
I have collected 50 of my favorite "Linux quotes" of all time. They are without doubt some of the most entertaining quotes that I've ever read. Although you may have already heard some of the Linux quotes that I'm about to share with you since they are a bit old, I do hope that you will still have fun.

So without any more delay, here are my top 50 Linux quotes of all time:


50. I develop for Linux for a living, I used to develop for DOS.
Going from DOS to Linux is like trading a glider for an F117.
-- Lawrence Foard, entropy@world.std.com

49. Avoid the Gates of Hell. Use Linux.
-- unknown source

48. I've run DOOM more in the last few days than I have the last few
months. I just love debugging ;-)
(Linus Torvalds)

47. By golly, I'm beginning to think Linux really *is* the best thing since
sliced bread.
-- Vance Petree, Virginia Power

46. Linux poses a real challenge for those with a taste for late-night
hacking (and/or conversations with God).
-- Matt Welsh

45. Linux is obsolete.
-- Andrew Tanenbaum

44. Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one hell of a good excuse for some of the brain-damages of minix. (Linus Torvalds to Andrew Tanenbaum)

43. I still maintain the point that designing a monolithic kernel in 1991 is a fundamental error. Be thankful you are not my student. You would not get a high grade for such a design :-) (Andrew Tanenbaum to Linus Torvalds)

42. We all know Linux is great... it does infinite loops in 5 seconds.
- Linus Torvalds about the superiority of Linux on the Amterdam Linux Symposium

41. People disagree with me. I just ignore them.
(Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel.)

40. Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen an angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.
-- Linus Torvalds, announcing Linux v2.0

39. Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain why should use Linux over BSD?

38. “How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers are for. I only coded it." (Attributed to Linus Torvalds, somewhere in a posting)

37. "Problem solving under linux has never been the circus that it is under AIX." (By Pete Ehlke in comp.unix.aix)

36. "Besides, I think Slackware sounds better than 'Microsoft,' don't you?" (By Patrick Volkerding)

35. "And the next time you consider complaining that running Lucid Emacs 19.05 via NFS from a remote Linux machine in Paraguay doesn't seem to get the background colors right, you'll know who to thank." (By Matt Welsh)

34. "...Deep Hack Mode--that mysterious and frightening state of consciousness where Mortal Users fear to tread." (By Matt Welsh)

33. Sigh. I like to think it's just the Linux people who want to be on the "leading edge" so bad they walk right off the precipice. (Craig E. Groeschel)

32. Microsoft Corp., concerned by the growing popularity of the free 32-bit operating system for Intel systems, Linux, has employed a number of top programmers from the underground world of virus development. Bill Gates stated yesterday: "World domination, fast -- it's either us or Linus". Mr. Torvalds was unavailable for comment ... (rjm@swift.eng.ox.ac.uk (Robert Manners), in comp.os.linux.setup)

31. Who wants to remember that escape-x-alt-control-left shift-b puts you into super-edit-debug-compile mode? (Discussion in comp.os.linux.misc on the intuitiveness of commands, especially Emacs.)

30. It's a bird.. It's a plane.. No, it's KernelMan, faster than a speeding bullet, to your rescue. Doing new kernel versions in under 5 seconds flat.. (Linus, in the announcement for 1.3.27)

29. Those who don't understand Linux are doomed to reinvent it, poorly. (Unidentified source.)

28. "How do you power off this machine?" (Linus, when upgrading linux.cs.helsinki.fi, and after using the machine for several months.)

27. I've discovered that using VMS is a lot like driving a nail with your head: sure, you eventually get something practical done, but it usually results in a headache and some blood loss.
(submitted by Sean A. Simpson)

26. "... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition (Found in the .sig of Rob Riggs)

25. If Bill Gates is the Devil then Linus Torvalds must be the Messiah. (Unknown source)

24. LILO, you've got me on my knees!
(from David Black, dblack@pilot.njin.net, with apologies to Derek and the
Dominos, and Werner Almsberger)

23. Anyone can build a fast processor. The trick is to build a fast system. (Seymour Cray)

22. We can use symlinks of course... syslogd would be a symlink to syslogp and ftpd and ircd would be linked to ftpp and ircp... and of course the point-to-point protocal paenguin. (Kevin M. Bealer, commenting on the penguin Linux logo.)

21. A multithreaded file system is only a performance hack. (Andrew Tanenbaum to Linus Torvalds)

20. I did this 'cause Linux gives me a woody. It doesn't generate revenue. (Dave '-ddt->` Taylor, announcing DOOM for Linux)

19. This message was brought to you by Linux, the free unix. Windows without the X is like making love without a partner. Sex, Drugs & Linux Rules win-nt from the people who invented edlin apples have meant trouble since eden Linux, the way to get rid of boot viruses. (By mwikholm@at8.abo.fi, MaDsen Wikholm)

18. Be warned that typing killall name may not have the desired effect on non-Linux systems, especially when done by a privileged user.
-- From the killall manual page

17. Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it. "
--- Linus Torvalds

16. Linux is not user-friendly. It _is_ user-friendly. It is not ignorant-friendly and idiot-friendly.
---Source unknown

15. `When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people just stare at you blankly and say "Hey, I got those with the system, *for free*".' (By Linus Torvalds)

14. "If you want to travel around the world and be invited to speak at a lot of different places, just write a Unix operating system." (By Linus Torvalds)

13. "Are Linux users lemmings collectively jumping off of the cliff of reliable, well-engineered commercial software?" (By Matt Welsh)

12. "Linux: the operating system with a CLUE... Command Line User Environment". (seen in a posting in comp.software.testing)

11. “See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too.” (By Linus Torvalds)

10. "What happens when you read some doc and either it doesn't answer your question or is demonstrably wrong? In Linux, you say "Linux sucks" and go read the code. In Windows/Oracle/etc you say "Windows sucks" and start banging your head against the wall."
--- Denis Vlasenko on lkml

9. "...you might as well skip the Xmas celebration completely, and instead sit in front of your linux computer playing with the all-new-and-improved linux kernel version." (By Linus Torvalds)

8. Linux hackers are funny people: They count the time in patchlevels. (Seen in the .sig of Gerd Knorr.)

7. Linux: the choice of a GNU generation
-- ksh@cis.ufl.edu put this on Tshirts in '93\

6. "Not me, guys. I read the Bash man page each day like a Jehovah's Witness reads the Bible. No wait, the Bash man page IS the bible. Excuse me..."
(More on confusing aliases, taken from comp.os.linux.misc)

5. What's this script do?
unzip ; touch ; finger ; mount ; gasp ; yes ; umount ; sleep
Hint for the answer: not everything is computer-oriented. Sometimes you're
in a sleeping bag, camping out with your girlfriend.
(Contributed by Frans van der Zande.)

4. I'm an idiot.. At least this [bug] took about 5 minutes to find.. Surely, Linus is talking about the kind of idiocy that others aspire to :-)
(Bruce Perens in response to Linus Torvalds's mailing about a kernel bug.)

3. One OS to rule them all,
One OS to find them.
One OS to call them all,
And in salvation bind them.
In the bright land of Linux,
Where the hackers play.
(J. Scott Thayer, with apologies to J.R.R.T.)

2. ...the Linux philosophy is "laugh in the face of danger". Oops. Wrong one. "Do it yourself". That's it. (by Linus)

1. We are using Linux daily to UP our productivity - so UP yours!
-- Adapted from Pat Paulsen by Joe Sloan

-END-


If you have some Linux quotes that I failed to include here, feel free to add them via comment. You may also want to check out our list of great quotes from Torvalds and Stallman about Free and Open Source Software.

Keep Reading
in

Come Fly with Fluxbuntu

- - 3 comments
Fluxbuntu Linux is yet another offshoot of Ubuntu. It uses a Fluxbox window manager because its main aim is to be fast, lightweight, and at the same time full featured. Accordingly, the primary objective of Fluxbuntu is to develop an operating system that would be ideal for older or low-end computer machines and even on mobile devices like cellphones and UMPCs.

I got the ISO image of Fluxbuntu 7.10 i386 installer from HERE. I already have it a few months ago but time didn’t allow me to try it until recently. I used VMWare workstation for testing and utilized only 256MB of virtual memory to really find out how quick enough it is. So, here’s my blow-by-blow account of installing and then using Fluxbuntu for the first time.

Installation:
Once the ISO was loaded, I was taken to the familiar boot preferences screen. I chose to install Fluxbuntu right away without passing any parameters whatsoever. The installation begun immediately since it is not a Live CD installer. The installation is in text-mode only, but I considered the process very straightforward and almost the same or as easy as that of graphical installation. One difference is the many options it provided to help you out in configuring your system properly. Linux newbies should not worry as it is very easy to understand, and almost always the selected default option is the right choice.


After effortlessly configuring my hardware like the keyboard, display, and network, followed by partitioning and password set-up, Fluxbuntu then took care of the system installation and was completely done in less than 30 minutes. I then rebooted and at the moment I reached the Fluxbox desktop, I considered the whole installation a success. My hardware were properly configured indeed, like my screen resolution was correctly set to 1024x768 and Ethernet was working straight away.


Look and Feel:
Fluxbuntu’s look is very clean and light as seen on their boot menu, splash, and log-on screen images. The clean and light appeal can also be noticed on its project website. Fluxbox Window Manager (FWM) handled Fluxbuntu’s default desktop and can be pretty much credited for it’s responsiveness. The file manager is ROX–Filer. It is a minimalist or stripped-down graphical file manager with very plain functions. But, it does the job and it is pretty much easy to use. Those who are used to the sleek KDE or Gnome desktop may not like the overall look of Fluxbuntu, but those who are in for speed and simplicity may appreciate it.



Software Management:
Fluxbuntu has limited number of pre-installed software applications, but they are mostly valuable and essential. The default web browser is called Kazehakase. You might not like its font rendering, but you can always install Firefox like I did. There’s AbiWord for word processing, Leafpad graphical text editor, and Nano console text editor. For email, there’s Claws Mail which is very lightweight but can do what most heavyweight email clients can. For programming, there’s Python and for system administration, there’s pppconfig(ncurses PPP setup tool) and several server applications as well. ImageMagick handles image viewing while VLC is for playing multimedia files. I would like to point out that some useful non-free software and codecs are not included out-of-the-box. Despite the inadequate number of applications available, its graphical Synaptic Package Manager will let you effortlessly download and install additional packages straight from the vast Ubuntu repository. You can also use it for updating and removing software applications.



Stability:
Fluxbuntu 7.10 RC has few known issues as pointed out on their download page. One problem is auto-mounting because of ‘Ivman’ not running. To fix it:

jun@ubuntu:~$ mkdir ~/.ivman
jun@ubuntu:~$

The other glitch is that the ‘Menu’ does not auto update after an application installation. Like, after I installed Firefox, it is nowhere to be found on the menu options. I tried ‘sudo update-menus’ but unfortunately it did not fixed the problem.

These are just minor setbacks and I think they are totally forgivable as Fluxbuntu is still on the development stage.



Conclusion:
Fluxbuntu is a must try Linux distribution which I feel has a very bright future ahead. I think new to Linux users will be able to handle it well with minor trouble. But, it might take some time for them to get used to its Fluxbox desktop. Meanwhile, advanced users will love it for its speed and versatility.

All in all, Fluxbuntu is very much like Ubuntu. Those who want to try Ubuntu but can’t because of hardware limitations will definitely be fulfilled with Fluxbuntu. Those who have higher-end machines but are into speed and performance might want to consider using Fluxbuntu, as it is definitely lightweight and can make anyone’s powerful computer fly.

I totally agree on what is advertised about Fluxbuntu Linux: Lightweight. Productive. Agile. Efficient. Ubuntu.

Keep Reading