Hackety Hack

Hackety Hack will teach you the absolute basics of programming from the ground up. No previous programming experience is needed!

give this a shot for 64 bit, or here for 32 bit Linux.. Linux support is a bit experimental at the moment, so don't hesitate to give some feedback about it.

INSTALLATION

first install some libraries:

sudo apt-get install libssh2

Change permissions:

chmod +x hacketyhack-1.0-1386-Linux.run

Run

./hacketyhack-1.0-1386-Linux.run

Kdenlive Light Graffiti plugin

Simon A. Eugster (Granjow) demonstrates his Light Grafiti plugin

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/18497028[/vimeo]

Matt Zimmerman's diversity statement for Ubuntu

Matt Zimmerman has proposed a diversity statement for Ubuntu. The following is taken from his latest blogpost:

The Ubuntu website states that “we aim to make Ubuntu a wonderful place to participate”. We developed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct to set a standard for participants to accept each other in the spirit of cooperation, and have improved it over time to state these principles more clearly.

It is implicit in our philosophy that these and other Ubuntu values should hold equally true for everyone. I would like to propose that we upgrade this to an explicit statement on behalf of the project.

I have spoken with many people who were interested in joining a free software project, but were put off because they felt unwelcome. I know various people who participate in Ubuntu today, but sometimes face difficult social obstacles in order to do so. Going forward, I would like for us, as members of the Ubuntu community, to make the extra effort to accept all kinds of people. This may sound simple, but it can be very difficult to put into practice. People often don’t even notice they’ve gotten it wrong, until the offended party points it out to them. We need tools and guidance to make this a reality.

To that end, I would like to propose a diversity statement for Ubuntu. This draft has already received support from a majority of the Community Council, but I’d like to take it a step further. Because I want this to be a commitment that we can all stand behind, I’m also calling for support from the community as a whole. Please give this issue your consideration, and let me know in the comments if you can get on board with an official statement like this. The more support we have, the more real this commitment can be.

Here’s the text. Many thanks to Mary Gardiner, Valerie Aurora and Benjamin Mako Hill for their review and input.

The Ubuntu project welcomes and encourages participation by everyone. We are committed to being a community that everyone feels good about joining. Although we may not be able to satisfy everyone, we will always work to treat everyone well.

Standards for behavior in the Ubuntu community are detailed in the Code of Conduct and Leadership Code of Conduct. We expect participants in our community to meet these standards in all their interactions and to help others to do so as well.

Whenever any participant has made a mistake, we expect them to take responsibility for it. If someone has been harmed or offended, it is our responsibility to listen carefully and respectfully, and do our best to right the wrong.

Although this list cannot be exhaustive, we explicitly honor diversity in age, culture, ethnicity, genotype, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, neurotype, phenotype, political beliefs, profession, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, subculture, and technical ability.

Some of the ideas and wording for this statement were based on diversity statements from the Python community and Dreamwidth Studios (CC-BY-SA 3.0

).

Daisy Audiobook Plugins

DAISY is an NISO Z39.86 standard for blind, visual impaired, print-disabled, and learning-disabled people. Here a some plugins and projects associated with the standard.

1. ODT 2 DAISY OpenOffice extension

Odt2daisy is an OpenOffice.org Writer extension, enabling to export in DAISY 3 format, including support of Mathematical content conforming to the MathML standard.

2. AnyDaisy Firefox extension

A Firefox extension which allows reading of DAISY books. This project is being developed by Benetech with fundingassistance from the Mozilla foundation.

3. Daisyplayer

A 2006 project which appears to be dormant, you can still check out the code and download a deb.

Install NLTK with python

Here is an excellent tutorial on easy installing Natural Language Toolkit with python

The NLTK book

Android App Inventor for Ubuntu

Liam Green Hughes posted this excellent tutorial

Link to Google Android general Tutorial.

While you at it, take a look at what could have been -- Ubuntu MID i.e. Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device edition.

Pidgin encryption

The Egyptian Revolution and events in the Middle East have brought home the necessity for secure communication. One of the biggest complaints from Egyptian activists was the government crackdown on Internet and interception of communication.

Here is a Pidgin plugin which allows for encrypted chats

It uses RSA encryption with keys up to 4096 bits, using the Mozilla NSS crypto library.

To compile make sure you have pidgin-dev installed. Then follow the instructions.

Or you can download a deb here.

<<Content from Indlovu/U8UNTU eLXR>>

Chip Monk Basic

http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/

KEGS Apple II GS emulation on Ubuntu

Hop over to the kegs page on sourceforge.

Download the latest source

In my case it was kegs.0.91.tar.gz

tar xfz PATH/TO/kegs.0.91.tar.gz
$ cd kegs.0.91/src
$ rm vars
$ ln -s vars_x86linux vars
$ make

cd out of src

You should find the binary in your kegs folder. Hop over to Emaculation forums for some advice about getting hold of a ROM. Place this in your folder.

Since there is no longer a /dev/dsp node in Ubuntu 10:10, you will have to start kegs like this:

padsp ./xkegs

You can view the Kegs emulation inside a browser at VirtualApple and download some games, unfortunately there is no Linux ActiveGS plugin as yet, so you'll have to be content with looking at the Applesoft BASIC Interpreter in Javascript,

For more Apple IIGS Programmes try SheppyWare.

Converting disk images to 800kb you will need Apple Commander or Ciderpress.

Link to older SDL port of KEGS (who knows, somebody might just figure out how to create a GS Ubuntu session?)

Link to Dos33 an open source implementation of AppleDos. The page appears to be unavailable, but there is a link to some of the utilities here,  all useful for Apple II disks, and Juiced GS, the last remaining Apple GS magazine

NOTE: I found that the kegs.0.86 was a lot faster for some reason. Don't know why, but it works like a bomb.

Press F4 for configuration and change the speed of the emulator.

Here is a link to x-amiga, an example of a good linux UAE distro, now if only there was a Kegs Linux.

Fuse v1.0.0 - The Free Unix Spectrum Emulator

Fuse is the Free Unix Spectrum Emulator. It supports several ZX Spectrum models, including 16K/48K/128K/+2/+2A/+3 and some Russian clones.

Alberto Garcia recently ported Fuse to the Maemo platform (used by the Nokia N800/N810 Internet Tablets).

He has also created Fuse packages for standard Debian/Ubuntu systems (x86/amd64 only). SDL and GTK+ versions are available. They have different user interfaces but are otherwise equivalent. If in doubt, choose the GTK+ version.

Downloads:

• Nokia N810 Internet Tablet:
  
  
  
  • Go here to install Fuse.
  
  
  • Go here to get the source code.
  
  
  
  


• Debian/Ubuntu (x86):
  
  
  
  • Required: install libspectrum.
  
  
  • Required: install Fuse SDL or Fuse GTK+.
  
  
  • Optional: install the Fuse utilities.
  
  
  • Go here to get the source code and earlier versions.
  
  
  
  


• Debian/Ubuntu (amd64):
  
  
  
  • Required: install libspectrum.
  
  
  • Required: install Fuse SDL or Fuse GTK+.
  
  
  • Optional: install the Fuse utilities.
  
  
  • Go here to get the source code and earlier versions.
  
  
  
  

Amsterdam Music Composer

Amuc is a Linux application for composing and playing music. The current version is 1.7 (june 2009).

It works like this:

Tune fragments are entered graphically. These are combined into a complete tune by means of a script file.

Five-bar staff or piano roll display.

5 different built-in instruments, 6 mono synthesizers, synthesized drums, sampled instruments.

For the composer there is help available with scales and chords.

Tunes can be exported as WAVE or MIDI files, or as human-readable scores in postscript format.

MIDI files can be imported.

WAVE files can be read and transformed to notes.

Support for USB keyboard.

Interface with Jack (the Jack Audio Connection Kit).

Amuc is written in C++. It is a lightweight application, not needing a GUI toolkit or an unusual library (required: X11, alsa, xft, cairo). Speedy operation: maybe this is the fastest tool to explore musical ideas and to create a complete piece of music.

Also a binary Debian package is available.

Downloads:

Source code: amuc-1.7.tar.gz
Debian package: amuc_1.7-1_i386.deb
Manual (also included with the source code)

Some tunes created with this application:

Shanty (arrangement: van Bergeijk) [ogg]
Angry [ogg]

X11 Basic

A Basic Interpreter with X11-Graphics capabilities.

X11-Basic implements a structured BASIC programming language with X11-graphics. The structure of the language is similar to the ATARI ST GFA-Basic.

A Basic Interpreter with X11-Graphics capabilities.X11-Basic implements a structured BASIC programming language with X11-graphics. The structure of the language is similar to the ATARI ST GFA-Basic.

Download Deb

Find location of the program in Ubuntu

It’s rather trivial task for people who use Ubuntu for a long time but newbies usually have problems with adding program to startup if location of the program is unknown or it is required to specify full path to the program somewhere e.g. when opening attachment in mail client. There are two most popular ways to find this out:

1. which gedit
2. type gedit

Both will show full path to certain program (gnome editor in our example): /usr/bin/gedit:



Read more: http://www.linuxscrew.com/page/9/#ixzz1D4sLEdSt

New Ubuntu graphics and video apps

Here are some graphics and video apps that appear to be new additions to the repos.

Skencil, a vector drawing app

Xaraxtreme another vector drawing app

Lombard, a video editor

Add ImageShack upload button to Picasa

Enter this code in a terminal.

picasa picasa://importbutton/?url=http://imageshack.us/picasa/imageshack-photo-uploader.pbz

click on yes, you should see the button appear at bottom of Picasa window

Frodo 4.1

What is Frodo V4.1?

Frodo V4.1 is a free, portable C64 emulator for BeOS, Unix, MacOS, AmigaOS, RiscOS and WinNT/95 systems.

Some of the emulation's features:

• This emulator focuses on the exact reproduction of special graphical effects possible on the C64, and has therefore relatively high system requirements. It should only be run on systems with at least a PowerPC/Pentium/68060.


• Frodo is capable of running most games and demos correctly, even those with FLI, FLD, DYCP, open borders, multiplexed sprites, timing dependent decoders, fast loaders etc.


• 6510 emulation: All undocumented opcodes, 100% correct decimal mode, instruction/cycle exact emulation.


• VIC emulation: Line-/cycle-based emulation, all display modes, sprites with collisions/priorities, DMA cycles, open borders, all $d011/$d016 effects.


• SID emulation: Real-time digital emulation (16 bit, 44.1kHz), including filters (only under BeOS, Linux, HP-UX, MacOS and AmigaOS).


• 1541 emulation: Drive simulation in directories, .d64/x64 or .t64/LYNX files, or processor-level 1541 emulation that works with about 95% of all fast loaders and even some copy protection schemes.


• Other peripherals: Keyboard and joystick (real joysticks (only under BeOS, Linux and AmigaOS) or keyboard emulation).


• The full source code in C++ is available.


• Frodo is freeware. Why pay >$40 for a C64 emulator?

Hardware supported:

• BeBox or PowerMac with BeOS Preview Release


• Unix systems with X11R6 or Linux/SVGAlib (Tcl/Tk 4.1 recommended)


• 68k or PPC Macintosh with System 7.5


• Amiga/DraCo with 68040/68060, AmigaOS 3.0 and a graphics card


• Acorn computers with RiscOS 3


• Intel x86 system running Windows NT/95

You can get the source of Frodo V4.1b here: http://frodo.cebix.net/

To download the current version of the V4.x sources via CVS:

$ cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@cvs.cebix.net:/home/cvs/cebix login

(password is "anoncvs")

$ cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@cvs.cebix.net:/home/cvs/cebix checkout Frodo4

there is an autogen.sh script in ./Src that creates the files necessary for building which are not in CVS.

It prompted me to "make" and all I had to do was chmod +x the binaries and move the Frodo.Glade file  in ./Src/glade to /usr/local/share for the settings window to activate when the binary ran.

sudo cp Frodo.Glade /usr/local/share/

Create a ramdisk

I hope many of you will agree that sometimes it’s really good idea to have some small amount of RAM mounted as a filesystem. It may be necessary when running some bash or perl script that handles, say, thousands of small files so it’s much more effective not to waste computer resources on reading/writing data on hard disk but keep those files directly in memory. This idea is known as Virtual RAM Drive or ramdisk and can be setup in Ubuntu or almost any other Linux distribution using the following commands under root (to become root in Ubuntu use "sudo -s“):

# mkdir /tmp/ramdisk; chmod 777 /tmp/ramdisk
# mount -t tmpfs -o size=256M tmpfs /tmp/ramdisk/

where 256M is amount of RAM you wish to allocate for ramdisk. It’s clear that this value should be less than amount of free memory (use “free -m“). BTW, if you specify too many MBs for ramdisk Linux will try to allocate it from RAM and then from swap so resulting performance would be very poor.

Read more: http://www.linuxscrew.com/2010/03/24/fastest-way-to-create-ramdisk-in-ubuntulinux/#ixzz1CoUqIJH9

http://www.ubuntuka.com/ubuntu-ramdisk-ramdrive-easy-way/