Ubuntu 9.10
Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic Koala was released recently. I, as a Ubuntu user, upgraded to 9.10 and I’m going to share some screenshots and reviews of Ubuntu 9.10.
After I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10, the first thing I saw is a brand new startup sequence. The shutdown sequence was removed because the shutdown only take 1 second.
Here is the screenshot of the desktop.
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/9947/desktopvp.png
The default theme and icons were updated, including the icons on the menu.
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/82/menub.png
Ignore the CrossOver Chromium, it’s not included by default (I installed it before). However, why Wine is automatically installed?
The wireless network menu was updated, to look better and more user-friendly.
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7439/wireless.png
Ubuntu 9.10 utilizes the Control Center, allows easy access to settings.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/553/controlcenter.png
IBus was added, it seems to be an input method.
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7461/ibus.png
The Software Center is one of the feature that Ubuntu empathized.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7111/installedsoftware.png
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2775/officesoftware.png
The new Ubuntu also introduced Disk Utility, the program I saw in Fedora 11/12.
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8022/diskutil.png
My hard drive is old, the Disk Utility said…
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/3261/diskdata.png
Ubuntu One allows you to upload, share and sync files on the cloud.
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/614/ubuntuone.png
Empathy IM is going to replace Pidgin.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7408/empathyim.png
I also checked other configurations, and found them similar to Fedora’s. Ubuntu 9.10 is even getting RPM package management. More and more distros will work on package management system compatibility…
Chrome OS Leaked
When someone was browsing the Chromium server, he found the Chrome OS source code. Soon, the source was leaked to major tech blogs. After Google found it out, they removed the Chrome OS from the server. I caught up the Chrome OS Debian package on http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2009/10/chromeos-pictures-google.html.
After I opened the Google Chrome, I saw a clock and a dropdown on the right. When you click on the clock, it shows the full date, the small X is intended to list wireless networks in the real Chrome OS, and the dropdown is for a dropdown menu…
When you click “Compact Nav Bar” → “New Window”, a new window shows up and the address bar got condensed.
It did not look very decent, it needs a shape and a border. Hope it will be better in release.
The new options in the Options window were also added, including the Chrome OS tab.
I can interact with the options but they are dummy. They do not work, because it’s beta.
The wireless and touchpad settings are intended for laptop use. Google said Chrome OS will be pre-installed in some laptops.
I also found the theme settings tab, it has GTK theme (GNOME native), classic (on Windows) and an option to install other themes.
Street Shooter
When I was browsing Google Maps’ Street View, a weird idea sudden popped out: Street Shooter. It’s a game where you shoot the people and cars in the Street View. To play the game, you must go to Google Maps and enter a Street View, then use a bookmarklet.
I don’t know if the implementation is possible. It seems the Maps Term of Use does not allow it and the Street View API doesn’t have capability to do that.
I also have ideas of Word and Excel macro game, where your Word document or Excel spreadsheet become a platformer action game.
Update (2009/9/8)
Well, I haven’t update my blog for month, because of lack of ideas and time.
In this week, I suffered some memory loss. I forgot Python and other programming languages. Password for Facebook and some sites. I also got false memories about car incidents. It seems it started when I was taking a nap, and a sleep paralysis occurred, I saw aliens brainwashing me.
I’m losing interest at Pokémon video games. I got bored of playing SoulSilver. Therefore, I’m following a fad of making graphic and web design sites. I’m going to call it SHiNKiROU, or 蜃気楼. I will code it in Ruby on Rails and 5% PHP. My new site, SHiNKiROU, will have content about HTML 5, Processing.js, Web design and programming. However, I can’t continue on SHiNKiROU because of my memory loss. I believe I can regain my memory from the sleep paralysis.
Link Ladders
Link ladders is a game I made recently. The rule is simple, you choose two Wikipedia articles, or two YouTube videos, or two Twitter users, or other 2 pages on same site. Your goal is to go to the second page by only clicking the links, for Wikipedia or other wiki articles, you can only click on blue article links. On YouTube videos, you can only click on the links of the Related Videos. On Twitter/Facebook or profile pages, you can only click on the friends or followers. If you want a challenging puzzle, you can choose two different websites sites and get there by clicking any links.
You can play Link Ladders now, try to get from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess.
Here is the solution: (4 clicks)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Project
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GNU_packages
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Chess
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess
The skill required for this game is classification and knowledge. There are no difference between Linux and chess. However, there is a chess-playing program on Linux called GNU Chess, and GNU Chess is part of the GNU Project, and GNU Project is primarily for Linux.
One advantage of this game is that you can play in school or work while not being found. You only need Wikipedia, or your school/company’s official site.
PHP Flaws
You saw it, you learned it, you programmed it, it’s everywhere. Well, I’m not talking about a Microsoft product, it is PHP.
Are you annoyed by the error messages of PHP? When something wrong happened, an error message will show up, which may break the HTML being generated. To remove the error messages, you must add error_reporting(0) in front of the code, or it won’t be portable. Talking about portability… PHP is a configurable programming language. The configuration makes PHP code must detect the configurations and perform actions based on it.
Can you imagine of the php.ini setting default_php_mode exists? By turning on default_php_mode, you can start writing PHP code without , for example:
include 'header.php' ?> <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> ......
You won’t be able to use PHP code to detect it. Of course, that configuration does exist, for good.
Magic quotes, originally used to help newbie programmers in security, made a hassle for experienced programmers and PHP5 newbies. You must add a boilerplate code like this
<?php
if (get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
$_REQUEST = array_map('stripslashes', $_REQUEST);
$_GET = array_map('stripslashes', $_GET);
$_POST = array_map('stripslashes', $_POST);
$_COOKIE = array_map('stripslashes', $_COOKIE);
}
?>
to make sure the text that will be used in database queries will not be quad-slashed (like 'text here \\\\').
The flags are bad. I hate these things like file_put_contents('file.txt', 'Hello corrupted world', FILE_APPEND); preg_match($pattern, $subject, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 3);. Also, some functions use array references, for example, preg_match($pattern, $subject, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 3); will modify the variable $matches. It should be done like:
<?php
try {
$matches = preg_match_offset_capture($pattern, $subject, 3);
} catch (PregException $e) {
$matches = array();
}
?>
The variable scoping may confuse the newbie PHP programmers who had programming experience on other programming languages such as JavaScript. You can’t access global variables in the function scope. You must use $GLOBALS or global $g_variable. It’s a huge hassle.
Here is an example of PHP global variables:
<?php
$x = 0;
function f($n) {
$x += $n; // wrong, not accessing global $x
}
function g($n) {
global $x; // right
$x += $n;
}
function h($n) {
$GLOBALS['x'] += $n; // right
}
?>
Maybe you know, or maybe you don’t. There are alternative syntaxes for if and the for blocks.
<?php if ($x): else: endif; foreach ($a as $b): endforeach; ?>
Some people will use the brace syntax, and some people will use that alternative syntax, which will cause inconsistency in large coding projects. The alternative syntaxes should be removed.
Most low-class Web developers who do not know PHP, copy and paste small scripts from large script repositories, like copying full of JavaScript from DynamicDrive for vanity proposes. Because PHP attracts low-class developers, the syntax of PHP became messy to meet the needs for the low-class developers, then, more low-class developers will be attracted.
PHP needs a revolution. The revolution will change the PHP syntax to something clean, ECMAScript syntax could be fair. Yes, do break the backward compatibility, too much backward compatibility cause problems. If PHP revolution won’t start… <%= "Hello Ruby on Rails world!" %>
My Firefox Customization
Yesterday, I customized and tweaked my Mozilla Firefox.
First, I removed the unused toolbars and moved the address bar to the main menu. You can do this by clicking View → Toolbars → Customize, drag away anything you don’t want, and drag the address and things you don’t want on the top. Then, you will see some empty toolbars. Just click View → Toolbars and un-check the toolbars you do not want. After the customization, it will look like this: http://twitpic.com/hrn3v
You will ask, “How can I press the Back button or the Refresh button?”. Use shortcut keys. Shortcut keys are keyboard sequences that performs actions that you originally need to click a button to perform it. Shortcut keys can increase your productivity. This Firefox layout is used to enforce you to use shortcut keys. If you don’t want shortcut keys, please change it back. You can see a list of Firefox shortcut keys at http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Keyboard+shortcuts?style_mode=inproduct.
I edited my Firefox’s title, to do this, get the Firesomething add-on: http://www.cosmicat.com/extensions/firesomething/. Then click the Preferences in the Firesomething of the Add-Ons window. You can configure Firesomething to display various types of titles, the User-Agent string (which identifies you browser), and even the about screen picture.
The Firefox themes are not perfect, some themes didn’t display the numeric inputs properly, or some doesn’t display Organize Bookmarks menu properly. There is a good replacement of themes: Personas for Firefox, you can simply go to www.getpersonas.com to download that extension. After you installed that extension, a fox mask will show in the bottom-left. Click on it, and you can choose a design. By the way, you can also get AnyColor add-on to customize Firefox’s color scheme: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6991.
Also, get the FoxTab add-on, it allows you to visualize the tabs in 3D. You can summon the FoxTab switcher screen by holding Ctrl + SHIFT + Tab. Also, press Ctrl + Q to summon FoxTab in interactive mode, where you can configure the appearance and various aspects of FoxTab. Download FoxTab at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8879.
Here is the screenshot of my Firefox after customization: http://twitpic.com/hslb1.
See also http://lifehacker.com/142764/guide-to-tweaking-firefox for more information about tweaking Firefox.
Pokemon SoulSilver Gameplay
I got the SoulSilver ROM. Because Kat didn’t record the further gameplay videos, so I will record one.
Using Wolfram|Alpha to Help Your Math Homework
I just finished my Math homework, it’s easy but takes time. A typical Math homework consists full of problems like this:
- 12 + 4.5
- 2 * (12 + 5)
- (45 + 23) / 4
- 10.5 – 2.8 * -5 + 3
- -10 – 2
Normally, you could use a calculator. However, it makes you go back and forth between your pen and calculator, which is slow.
If you use Wolfram|Alpha, you could type all problems in one time and press Enter to see all results.
If you don’t know what Wolfram|Alpha is, Wolfram|Alpha is a computational knowledge engine. You enter a question and it will answer it. You can enter a math problem, a sequence of data, a word and more. The URL to Wolfram|Alpha is http://www.wolframalpha.com/.
Because you can enter a sequence of data, you can enter multiple questions at one time, separated by comma.
For example, you could type this to see results of all problems above:
12 + 4.5, 2 * (12 + 5), (45 + 23) / 4, 10.5 – 2.8 * -5 + 3, -10 – 2
If your homework is digital, you can even copy and paste all the questions to Wolfram|Alpha search box.
Back to School
School finally started for me in September 8. I’m going to grade 9. This will also be the first time of entering to high school.
When I entered the school, I saw a lots of tall students. That reminded me, there are outlaws and drug dealers in high school. I’m not going to get close to tall American students to prevent that. I’m going to get mostly Asian people as friends instead.
There are no classes in the first day, the students go to the new homebase and see their new teachers. Because I’m a new student, I need to go to the school office to get assigned.
After 1 hour of waiting, I got my time table.
Here is my time table:
| Day 1 | Day 2 |
|---|---|
| Math | Art |
| English | Japanese |
| P.E. | Science |
| Social Studies | Electronics |
Most of my favourite subjects are on Day 2, and most of the subjects that I hate are on Day 1.
Monday and the odd days are Day 2, Tuesday and the even days are Day 1.
If I can change the timetable, I will place all favourite subjects on Day 2 and all hated subjects on Day 1.
In the month of October, the “Dark Season” will come. The term Dark Season is create by me to refer to the seasons with short daytime and constant rainy and cloudy weathers. The short daylight may cause SAD (seasonal affective disorder) for some people. The learning efficiency decrease if you have SAD.
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