Basic4GL Wine Update

A new version of Basic4GL for been released & can be downloaded from here. I've also updated the Basic4GL entry on the Wine AppDB, which you can read here.

Brutus2D Update

A new version of Brutus2D v1.8.5 can be downloaded from here.

Basic4GL: Promo Video

Back in 2007 I made a video showcasing some of the things that could be done in the Basic4GL Programming language.

Coding in Groovy

Groovy is a language that compiles to Java bytecode & can be used wherever Java can. I've just downloaded & installed the Windows version, anyone else who's interested in Groovy should check out this thread on the Ubuntu forum.

Joe Walsh: Space Age Whiz Kids

Google Sites

If you want some free webspace to create some sites & upload files, watch the following video from Google. Visit Google Sites here & create your own.

Your Sinclair: Top 100 Games

From Issues 70 - 74 of 'Your Sinclair' magazine listed the top 100 games which were then available for the Sinclair Spectrum Computer. I've placed the pages from the magazines in a Picasa album which can be seen here. (Just click the image on the page that you want to see & then click the magnify icon)

You can also see an online listing of the top 100 games here on 'World of Stuart'.

Tamava Reader

If you need a binary newsgroup reader/downloader, I would highly recommend you download Tamava reader from here.

Brutus2D Completely Free

Brutus2D is now completely free, you can read more in this thread on the Brutus2D forum & it can be downloaded here.

Spread Firefox & Thunderbird

If you want some Firefox & Thunderbird images that you can place on your webpage, look on the following sites here & here.

BBC Micro Live Special

You can watch the entire programme which was made back in the early 80's here on Google video.

Bandersnatch BBC Documentary

Back in the 1980's 'Imagine' software were working on a revolutionary game called Bandersnatch. Sadly the company went out of business before the game could ever be released. The BBC were actually making a documentary about 'Imagine' while they were going out of business & it can be seen here.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Final Fantasy Links

Here are some Final Fantasy related links.

• Final Fantasy VIII Part 11 of a Walkthrough, video here.
• Final Fantasy Franchise on Wikipedia, here.
• Final Fantasy VIII Walkthrough, here.
• Final Fantasy VIII on Wikipedia, here.
• Final Fantasy VIII Part 24 of a Walkthrough, video here.
• Final Fantasy XI on Wikipedia, here.
• Final Fantasy X-2 on Wikipedia, here.
• Final Fantasy X on Wikipedia, here.
• Final Fantasy XIII on Wikipedia, here.

• Vagrant Story on Wikipedia, here.
• Secret of Mana on Wikipedia, here.
• Secret of Evermore on Wikipedia, here.
  

TrackMania

Excellent free multiplayer racer available to download here.

Genso's Junkyard

Lots of nice programs, sources & demos are available to download here.

Off Topic Post

Crowded House: Don't Dream It's Over

Let Me Google that for you

A very amusing Internet search site can be found here.

DBF-Interactive Links

Useful DBF-Interactive links...

• Libraries & Include files available here.
• Dutch Colourz demo available here.
• Some demo productions, here.
• C0D1G0 demo available here.

Image Resizing Update

Online tools for resizing images can be found at the following links...

• Online tool written in Java here.
• Another Online tool written in Flash here.

A good description of the image resizing algorithm can be found here.

Linux Basic4GL PBWiki

Earlier this year I created a Wiki which featured some programs written for B4SDL.

Ubuntu GameDev Wiki

There is a good Wikispace here dedicated to game development in Ubuntu.

Prince of Persia Animation

Footage that was used for the animations in the computer game, Prince of Persia. Can be seen here.


Prince of Persia Animation Reference 1985 from jordan mechner on Vimeo.

Nice Windows Blog

There's a nice Windows related blog here. It contains a lot of information that any Windows user should find very useful.

100 SNES Games in 10 minutes

Content Aware Image Resizing

Ever wanted to resize an image but keep the original content? 

Excellent video here on YouTube.

TCKSOFT

Is a blog where a lot of game remakes can be found. The author of the blog can also be found on the retro remakes game site here.

Retro-Remakes

Is a site where you can download a lot of intro & demo remakes from the Amiga era. The remakes are written in FreeBASIC, ASM & C#, the site can be found here.

Wrox: Assembly Programming

The 'Professional Assembly Language' book published by Wrox contains a lot of programs written in the GAS syntax. Sadly they use a few Linux commands which means they aren't as cross platform as they could be.

On the Wrox forum here, there is a solution to this problem though.

Open Source Flash Development

I was reading this thread on the Science forum & came across the following links to some Open Source Flash software.

• Open Source Flash, here.
• Adobe Flex 3, here.

Useful Assembly Links

I've recently just joined the MASM forum, so here are some useful links for learning Assembly programming.

• MASM32 Hello world program, here.
• A lot of GoASM links can be found here.
• Win32 Assembly tutorial, here.
• More Win32 API examples, here.
• GoASM homepage, here.
• Windows SDK, 1GB download, here.

IP Address Website Tool

Sadly the tool on this site doesn't create signatures which use BB code for ProBoards Forums but it does produce HTML code which can be embedded on blogs, websites & wikis.

CRC Calculator

If you need a program to calculate CRC checksums (Cyclic Redundancy Check) get it here.

Another CRC checker can be found here.

A full description of the CRC function can be found on Wikipedia here.

Seal's Wiki

If you need help customizing your Wiki, you should check out Seal's Wiki here.

Mathematica Player 7

The new version of the Mathematica Player can be downloaded from here.

Demonstrations can be found here, Player features can be found here & a development guide can be found here.

Devpaks Wiki

I've created a new Wiki here, where I've placed selected Devpaks that I've downloaded from the official Devpak site.

I've had to do this since I was getting fed-up with the poor reliability of the download links on the official site.

View Web Browser Cache

If you want to view the files in your Web browser's Cache, download these free programs.

Build a Companion Cube

Want your own Weighted Companion Cube like the one in Portal? Get the plan here.

Scilab Numerical Computation

Need a program for calculations, etc? Download Scilab from here.

Visual Basic .NET Programming

Nice book here on Google Book Search.

Perlin Noise in Basic4GL

Nice selection of programs here on the Basic4GL forum.

Mario Paint Composer

I used to own the original on the SNES. Nice video here.

Da Fish in Sea

Is a Flash related blog which contains a lot of useful programs with full source-code. It can be found here.

Understanding Python Files

What's the difference between a .pyo file & a .pyc file. Find out here.

Opera passes the Acid3 test

The newest Alpha version of Opera which can be downloaded from here, successfully passes the Acid3 test with 100%. Please make sure you read the warnings on the download page before you install the Alpha version.

Processing

Processing is an Open Source programming language that I first heard about in this post on the Ubuntu forum. You can download it from here, I recommend you get the Java version even if you've got a JDK already installed.

Serif Free Software & Vista

Serif have a website here where you can download a lot of free software, sadly a lot of the programs aren't compatible with Vista. You can find out more here.

Console Gaming is better than PC

12 reasons why are here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Setting the Java Classpath

Useful information here on the Ubuntu forum.

Powered by ScribeFire.

More Python 2.6 Infomation

There is a thread here on the Ubuntu forum which contains more information about how to install Python 2.6.

Off Topic: Greatest Card Trick Ever

Rene Lavand performing the famous 'Oil & Water' card trick, watch here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

thinBasic Journal

The new edition of the thinBasic Journal can be downloaded today. Get it from this thread on the thinBasic forum.

Powered by ScribeFire.

thinBasic v1.7.0.0

The new version of thinBasic has been released today, you can find out more in this thread on the thinBasic forum & download it here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Ruby Update

I made this post a few months ago, it dealt with a bug in rubyscript2exe. Last night I installed the new version of Ruby & installed rubyscript2exe & discovered that it was working perfectly again.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Enigmail Thunderbird Simple Fix

After installing Enigmail in Thunderbird, I discovered that I could no-longer view HTML emails. There's an extremely simple fix for this problem here on the Enigmail forum.

Basic4GL @ Wine HQ App DB

I submitted Basic4GL to the Wine App DB a few days ago. It can now be found here & a more detailed view can be found here.

My Page on Launchpad

You can find it here.

Python: String Conversion

If you need to know how to convert a string into a number in Python, look at this thread on the Ubuntu Forum.

Powered by ScribeFire.

GPG & Enigmail

If you want to be able to encrypt your emails & check the integrity of downloaded programs. You can get the Windows of GPG from here & you can download Enigmail from here. Once you've installed GPG you'll need to add it to your PATH environment variable.

Information on using GPG can be found at the following sites, here, here & here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Debugging in Python

Two useful links to help you in debugging your Python applications, here & here.

GLUX - OpenGL Library

Glux is a new OpenGL library, which attempts to combine the OpenGL Utility & Auxiliary libraries. You can find out more here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

FreeBasic in Ubuntu Linux

Trouble using FreeBasic in Ubuntu? Make sure you've got the following installed.

sudo aptitude install build-essential libc6-dev libncurses-dev libgpmg1-dev libx11-dev libxpm-dev libxrandr-dev libglitz-glx1-dev

Check out this page on my Wikispace for more info.

Desktop Recording in Ubuntu

If you need to record your screen activity in Ubuntu, you should install the following excellent program.

Open a terminal & type...

sudo apt-get install recordmydesktop gtk-recordmydesktop

There's a guide about the program here on the Ubuntu forum.

Tomb Raider Level Designer

A lot of free tools which you can use for designing your own Tomb raider levels can be downloaded from this site.

Universal Extractor

A new version of Universal Extractor can be downloaded from here.

Ubuntu 8.10 & PyOpenGL

After installing the new version of Ubuntu I discovered that PyOpenGL had stopped working. Apparently other people have encountered this problem too, here on the Ubuntu forum & here on the PyOpenGL mailing list.

Xbox Console Update

Today was the day that the new Xbox Experience was released. I think the update is a great improvement, I've already installed 'Call of Duty 4' to my Xbox' hard-drive.

Google SketchUp

A new version has been released, get it here.

M_PI in C

Interesting discussion here on the Ubuntu forum about the use of the mathematical constant M_PI in the C Programming language. More useful information can be found here.

JCreator LE for Windows

If you need a lightweight Java code editor (IDE) to develop your Java programs in, I suggest downloading JCreator LE from here. It's still completely free to use with no time restriction.

Debug & Release versions

Ever wanted to create a Release version of an .exe in Visual Basic or C#?

If you have, look here.

Photobucket

Need to upload some photos for free? I've just created an account on Photobucket.

Troels Folmann

If you don't know who he is, he did the music for Tomb Raider: Legend, Anniversary & Underworld. He's got a blog here where I found this video of Bobby Caldwell performing 'What you won't do for Love'.

Deploying .NET Applications

Interesting set of links I've put together which will help you when you need to distribute a .NET app.

• Deploying .NET Apps book on Google books, here.
• Microsoft article on ClickOnce publishing, here.
• How ClickOnce publishing works, here.
• Wikipedia article on ClickOnce publishing, here.
  

Web Browser Link Trapping

Extremely useful article here on the CodeProject website which shows you how to develop a web-app in Visual Basic .NET. The interesting part of the article is where it shows you how to disable link navigation in the browser.

I was able to use some of the information to write my OpenGL Man page viewer.

VB Command Line

Need to compile a VB application from the Command Line? This guide will show you how.

Off Topic Post

Mylo - In My Arms, watch here.

Easy Duplicate Finder

Good free program here, which finds duplicate files on your computer & deletes them.

Microsoft MSDN Forums

Microsoft has a group of forums here, which are dedicated to the Express Editions.

OpenGL Man Pages

All the OpenGL Man pages can be found here.

Small Basic

I first heard about it in this thread on the thinBasic forum. After about 10 minutes of using it, I had converted one of my Sierpinski Triangle programs & posted it on this page of the Small Basic forum.

N64 RGB Output

Apparently the N64 console couldn't output a picture in the RGB format but this guide will show you how to modify the console.

Interview with Rabah Shihab

An interview with the Lead Programmer of the unreleased Amiga game 'Babylonian Twins', can be found here.

Call of Duty 5

It looks like it will play as fast as 'Call of Duty 4', which I think is a bad thing. But I'll probably buy it anyway, release date in Europe is November 14th.

Speedtest.net

I found the following Internet speed test in this thread on the Basic4GL forum. I recommend not downloading anything or watching videos on YouTube while the test is being conducted.

Off Topic Post

TNA Wrestling: AMW vs. Triple X from Turning Point 2004. Watch it here.

OpenGL in Gentee

Programs here which I placed on the Gentee forum some time ago.

C for C++ Programmers

Nice webpage here, with lots of interesting information.

WoS, ACE & Amiga.

Links to computer magazine websites with downloadable PDF content.

• World of Spectrum, archive of hundreds of Sinclair magazines.
• Old Computer Magazines, copies of ACE can be found here.
• Acorn Mags, archive of Acorn & BBC Micro magazines.

FLV A/V Sync

Ever used SUPER to save a video in the FLV format, only to discover that the Audio is out of sync by a few seconds? If you have, check out this post on the SUPER forum.

Shell Scripting Links

Here are some useful Shell-Scripting links.

• Customize your Command Prompt, here.
• Start a Shell script from an Exe, here.
• Copy multiple files from the Command line, here.
• Pipe commands with switches, here.
  

Online Science Videos

There are a lot of interesting Science videos that you see on this YouTube channel.

My favourite is this One showing you how to create a battery from Vinegar.

Powered by ScribeFire.

DeSmuME - DS Emulator

I already own a Nintendo DS but if you don't, you can get a free emulator from here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Useful Cli Commands

Here are some links to some useful pages which contain information on various command prompt commands.

• Type command, here.
• Copy command, here.
• Environment variables, here.
  

Powered by ScribeFire.

PhotoFiltre Download

I found out about this nice free image retouching program which can be downloaded from here, in this thread on the Basic4GL forum.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Usenet Access

My broadband ISP is Blueyonder, their News Server Address is news.virginmedia.com. If you want to access Usenet leave the name & password blank & use port 119.

To find out your News Server Address, search here. If you need a NZB client, search here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

NZBs Search site

Want to search the newest NZB files? Go here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Fractal Optimizations

Useful explanation of how to speed up the rendering of a Mandelbrot Fractal here.

OpenGL in various languages

The same OpenGL program written using FreeGLUT in various programming languages, here.

FunctionX Tutorials

The FunctionX Programming tutorials site has been around for a longtime but it's still one of the best tutorial sites there is.

Video Sharing Sites

Try Revver & YouSportz.

Modulus Operator

Some links to the most interesting math operator in the world of programming, here, here & here.

OpenGL program using SDL

Program here on the Ubuntu forum which will show you how to use OpenGL with SDL.

Drawing a Circle in SDL

Nice little program showing you how, on the Ubuntu forum here.

Forger WinAPI Tutorial

The Forger WinAPI has just been updated, you can check it out here.

MinGW32 Download

I recently uninstalled the Code::Blocks IDE & decided to go back to writing my programs in notepad & compiling from the command line or using Makefiles.

I had difficulty getting the MinGW installer to download the relevant files, so I had a look on the MinGW  mailing list & found this post where someone else was having problems.

The OP was told he should download the TDM/MinGW installer from here. I did that & it downloaded & installed perfectly first time.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Updated Basic4GL Help Files

I've updated all the Basic4GL HTML Help files on my website, I've also updated the PDF versions too. If you want to see them & download them, please go here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Steampunk Star Wars

Some very nice 'Steampunk Star Wars' images can be found here.

Street Fighter Sprites

Here are a few sites where you can download sprites from the various 'Street Fighter' games. If you spend a short time cropping & resizing them, they make excellent avatars.

• GSA - Game Sprite Archives
• Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
• Street Fighter Galleries

Turrican III Source Code

The source code for the Amiga game 'Turrican III' was released a short time ago, you can read more & download it in this thread at EAB.

One True Media

Need to edit some videos online? Why not check out One True Media.

LÖVE - Free 2D Game Engine

LÖVE is a 2D game engine which is programmed in Lua. It can be downloaded from here & there is a forum here.

Google Web Accelerator

Apparently according to this news post, Google Web Accelerator is no longer available for download. However it can still be downloaded from Filehippo.

C++ Tutorials

Here are some links to some excellent C++ tutorials.

• C++ Language, here.
• Programming Tutorials, here.
  

QBASIC Tutorials

Nice set of QBASIC tutorials here & here.

First Basic4GL DLL

I've just written my first DLL for Basic4GL, it can be downloaded from here. The original thread on the Basic4GL forum can be seen here & the Code::Blocks project can be downloaded from here.

The DLL that I've written contains Four commands that will return the amount the memory your computer has at it's disposal.

Raycasting Links

Interesting set of links that I found in this thread on the thinBasic forum regarding raytracing.

• Raycasting Tutorial, here.
• GPU raycasting tutorial, here.
• Assembly source for raycasting, here.
• Example showing lighting, here.
  

Off Topic Post

Lighter Shade of Brown: Hey DJ, watch the video here.

Lighter Shade of Brown "Hey DJ"

New FTP Server

Previously I'd been using zFTP but had run into problems with the administration. So I downloaded GuildFTPd from here & so-far I haven't had any difficulty using it.

DrPython Error

If you encounter an error when you've reinstalled DrPython, like the following...



It can be solved quite simply, just go the the Options menu in DrPython & click Preferences... .Then scroll down & change the Default Current Working Directory: from what it is currently set to. It should be set to the Directory where you installed DrPython to.

• The above image shows the error.
• I installed DrPython in C:\DrPython the above Directory is incorrect.
• The image below shows the correct Path.

• I discovered that the error had been reported here too.
  

Install Python 2.6 in Windows Vista

Currently the installation procedure for Python 2.6 is a bit tedious.

• Download Python 2.6 from here.

Now open a Command-Prompt as an Administrator by Right-Clicking it's icon & selecting the option.

• Now locate the Directory where you downloaded the installer.
• Type in the following...

msiexec /i python-2.6.msi

• The following image maybe helpful...

FreeBASIC in OpenSUSE

There is an excellent guide for installing FreeBASIC in OpenSUSE here. I followed it & within 5 minutes I had compiled & run a FreeBASIC program in Geany.

Pointers & References

For any aspiring C & C++ programmers who are having difficulty understanding the difference between a Pointer & a Reference; I suggest taking a look at the following Wikipedia pages. Here & here.

Solving Ark Troubles

If you're having problems decompressing files using Ark then read this thread at the OpenSUSE forum. You'll also need to install the newest version of KDE.

Updating OpenSUSE

If you encounter a problem updating OpenSUSE involving no reply from daemon. Then read this thread over at the OpenSUSE forums.

Kompozer for OpenSUSE

I needed to install Kompozer for OpenSUSE & came across the Webpin installation system by accident.

Webpin lets you search for apps & install them using just one-click.

Java for OpenSUSE

Need a JDK or JRE for OpenSUSE? Then look here.

Code::Blocks on OpenSUSE

Instructions for installing Code::Blocks on OpenSUSE can be found on this page.

It's pretty simple, just one-click.

VLC on OpenSUSE

Instructions for installing VLC on OpenSUSE can be found here.

OpenSUSE

Today I uninstalled Ubuntu & installed OpenSUSE. It can be downloaded from here & it's very good. I recommend you get the Live CD & install that rather than getting the DVD.

One of the first things you'll want to do is install the msttcorefonts, these posts are useful, here, here & here.

Neko Language

A new language called Neko is available to download from here.

Py2exe Updated

Apparently a new version of Py2exe was released a few Months ago. You can find out more here.

New Xbox Experience

It's coming on November 19th. Read more here.

OpenOffice v3.0

The new version of OpenOffice can be downloaded from here.

Frac Command

My Casio Graphic calculator has a small version of the BASIC programming language built in. One of the commands which it has is called Frac & it is very useful; it removes the Integer part of a number.

Sadly Basic4GL doesn't have such a command but here is a simple way to implement it.

A* Pathfinding

Nice A* Pathfinding tutorial can be found here.

Another set of links for Pathfinding routines can be found in this post that I made on the Basic4GL forum.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Off Topic Post

Nice Guided Relaxation video here at Dailymotion.

Guided Relaxation & Self-Massage for Headache & Migraine
Uploaded by AnnaVideo

Powered by ScribeFire.

Prime Numbers

Thread here at the Ubuntu forum which shows you programs for prime number checking written in many different languages.

Powered by ScribeFire.

C# Command Line

Compiling a program from the command line in C# is pretty simple.

• First you must locate the file, csc.exe.

Mine is located at C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5 the location of the file on your computer may be different depending on which version of C# you're using. (I'm using Express Edition 2008)

Add the file location to your path environment variable & open a command prompt.

• Instructions on building your app can be found on this page.
  

Powered by ScribeFire.

Emergence BASIC

A new version of BASIC called eBasic can be downloaded from here for free. I can highly recommend it.

Powered by ScribeFire.

XOR Linked lists

A nice thread here on the Ubuntu forum about XOR Linked lists in C. More information can be found on the subject here on Wikipedia.

Powered by ScribeFire.

CORN Programming Language

I first discovered the CORN Programming Language back in 2006. I didn't think that it was being developed anymore but it is & the new website can be found here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Ubuntu IPTables

If you've installed aMule for Ubuntu, then you will need to configure your IPTables. The following links will be helpful.

• IPTables HowTo - A lot of information can be found here
• aMule Firewall Settings - More information here
• Ubuntu Forum Post - Useful post
• Useful Image - Image on my Wikispace
  

Powered by ScribeFire.

Ubuntu GNOME Refresh

After installing a program in Ubuntu it may not appear in the Menu straight away, to remedy this just type the following in a terminal...

killall gnome-panel

More information can be found here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Ipconfig for Ubuntu

In Windows if you want to see details about your network connection, you just type the following in a prompt...

ipconfig /all

In Linux just type the following in a terminal...

ifconfig -a

You can find out more here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

aMule for Ubuntu

If you want to install the eMule client for Ubuntu; aMule. Just type the following in a terminal...

sudo apt-get install amule amule-utils-gui geoip-bin amule-utils

Powered by ScribeFire.

Firefox Addons

There is a list of Firefox addons that I regularly use, here on my Wikispace.

I've just started using some more addons which I'm going to list here.

• Open IT - Lets you open documents online
• Universal Uploader - Upload files to your favourite sites
• Greasemonkey - Make changes to a websites Javascript
• Firebug - Edit a web pages CSS & HTML
  

Learning HTML

If you're interested in learning HTML because you want to design a website, then you should check out the following useful links.

• HTML Dog - Useful for beginners
• HTML Tags - Extremely useful information on HTML tags
• WC3 Schools - Lots of information on coding standards
  

Atoms: Tom Kuhn

The Amiga version of Atoms was written by Tom Kuhn. The assembly source can be downloaded from here & the title theme can be downloaded here in the MOD format. The Amiga Format coverdisk featuring the game can be downloaded here.

Picasa Download

Picasa is a nice image viewer & editor. It can be downloaded from here.

Radians Degrees

Interesting post here on the Ubuntu forum about converting Radians to Degrees in Python.

CharacterFX is now Freeware

CharacterFX is a character animation tool, created for gamers, artists, modellers & hobbyists. It allows you to breathe life into your meshes using skeletal animation and advanced tools like Inverse Kinematics or Weighted Vertices but still it is easy enough to use for all levels of computer graphic artists.

• imports WaveFront OBJ, MilkShape3D ASCII, Autodesk 3DS
• skeletal animation with key frames
• easy to use forward and inverse kinematics system

Download from here.

SeaMonkey Browser

I've just reinstalled the SeaMonkey browser & have set the built-in e-mail client to receive mail from my Gmail account as well as my home account. You can get SeaMonkey from here & you can also get a zipped no-install version from the same web page.

Off Topic Post

Nice music Video from the Eighties here; Duel by Propaganda.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

It looks like a good game.

Free Microsoft Downloads

A lot of free downloads from Microsoft can be found here.

Media Conversion

Nice site here which can convert different types of media.

Vista Network Places

Need to create a new network place in Vista like you could in XP?

Just click Start then Computer, under the Hard Disk Drives panel, right click; from the menu which then appears click Add a Network Location.

EditPad Lite Freeware

It's a notepad replacement & can be downloaded from here.

Microsoft Photo Tools

The new version of Microsoft Pro Photo Tools can be downloaded here.

Watching TV on the Internet

If you want to, then you should Download this.

Checkershadow Illusion

Nice Optical Illusion can be seen here.

New Xbox 360 Avatars

You must watch this video if you own an Xbox 360.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:af0e0dcd-5cff-43a2-bd32-4841fe6a89d1&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Avatars in the new Xbox experience">Video: Avatars in the new Xbox experience</a>

Ubuntu Forum Links

A set of links I found in this thread & others on the Ubuntu forum.

• Magnetic core memory
• Russian reversal (joke)
• Python Floating Points
• Sunk costs
• Post purchase rationalization
• Zeller's congruence

QBASIC Express: Issue 29

Issue 29 of the QBASIC Express magazine is available to read here.

Common Python Errors

A list of the Ten most common Python programming errors can be found here.

Dynamic Languages Strike Back

Interesting blog post here about dynamic programming languages.

The Story of Mel

A true programming story can be found here & it makes for a very interesting read.

Free Web space

Nice site here offering free web space & an online web site creator.

Managing Garbage Collection

Interesting interview with Patrick Dussud here on Channel9.


Patrick Dussud: Managing Garbage Collection

Off Topic Post

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Fanfare For the Common Man

You can find the video here on YouTube.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary Extras

Nice video you can see here on YouTube.

Links from a Thread

A series of links I found in this thread on the Ubuntu Forum.

• Sturgeon's Law
• Normal Distribution
• Computer Language Benchmark
• C++ vs Ocaml: Ray Tracer Comparison
• Succinctness is Power
  

Tomb Raider Soundtrack Torrent

You can download a torrent containing all the Soundtracks from the Tomb Raider games here.

Tomb Raider Croft Manor Theme

An extended version of the Croft Manor theme from Tomb Raider: Anniversary, can be downloaded from this web page.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Tomb Raider Chronicles

All the soundtracks for the Tomb Raider Games can be downloaded from this web page.

Powered by ScribeFire.

FlickrDown

Need to download lots of photos from Flickr? Then just download & install FlickrDown.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Oosah

A very nice media sharing site can be found here. It also lets you view, share & copy files from your YouTube, Flickr & Picasa accounts. The chances of you running out of space is quite slim as you've got 1TB.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Compiler Error

Recenly I compiled & ran a program in Linux. After I successfully compiled the program in Windows, I tried to run it. However it wouldn't work.

I kept receiving the following error number, -1073741571.

After typing "-1073741571" into Google, I found this post on a French programming forum.

Apparently the problem may be caused by some kind of 'overflow' error. The fact that the program uses recursion makes me feel that this may be right.

Equations of Motion

Interesting discussion here on the Science Forum.

Powered by ScribeFire.

SDL FAQ Page

Useful SDL FAQ page here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Lazy Foo SDL Site

If you're interested in learning SDL for games programming then you should definitely visit the lazyfoo site.

Powered by ScribeFire.

SDL Downloads

All the SDL libraries can be downloaded from this page.

Powered by ScribeFire.

SDL in Ubuntu

If you need to use SDL in Ubuntu, just type the following in a terminal...

sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev

This will install SDL & the TTF font package.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Pidgin in Ubuntu

Pidgin is an Instant Messenger program for Windows & Linux. If you're running the Ubuntu version you may have run into a problem where Pidgin doesn't automatically run at start-up.

There is a simple solution here at the Ubuntu forum for solving this problem.

Powered by ScribeFire.

BBC Fractal Slideshow

A nice Fractal slideshow can be seen here on the BBC website. It has an audio commentary by the mathematician Lasse Rempe.

MilkyTracker

MilkyTracker is a program for making music. It is designed to recreate the old Sound-Trackers, like OctaMED & ProTracker on the Amiga. It can be downloaded from here.

F# Download

I've just started using the F# programming language & I'm very impressed by it.

You can find out more here; F# can be downloaded from here; F# Manual can be seen here. The Wikipedia article can be seen here.

Once you've added the F# compiler (fsc.exe) to your PATH environment variable, you can compile like this.

fsc file.ml

If you want to compile a Windows Application just use the following...

fsc file.ml --target winexe

SMPlayer Download

The SMPlayer is a media player that can also play files in the .nsv format. It does have a few problems like how if you use the DirectX video driver in Vista, the Aero interface is disabled. You can use the OpenGL video driver but it isn't accelerated.

You can download the SMPlayer from here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Coding Competition

Over on the Coding Monkeys forum they're organising a coding competition. You can read more here.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Babylonian Twins

A short video here on YouTube showing a completed Amiga game which was developed in Iraq in 1994 but never released.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Pygments

Pygments is a generic syntax highlighter module for Python. It's very useful.

Here is a site which uses Pygments to add bbcode syntax highlighting to your program code.

Powered by ScribeFire.

GoStats Site

Nice site here which will compile visitor stats for your website.

Powered by ScribeFire.

3D Function Graphing

Nice little routine here on the Basic4GL forum which shows you how to create a 3D Function Graphing Calculator.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Delphi OpenGL

Some nice OpenGL programs which have been written in Delphi can be found on this site.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Basic4GL Interpreter

Nice post here on the Basic4GL forum from back in 2005, which shows you how to write a simple programming language interpreter.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Monoslideshow

Nice way to embed a slide-show on your website; is shown here.

New version of Basic4GL

A new version of Basic4GL became available to download on Saturday. You can get it from here.

OpenOffice & Clipart in Ubuntu

Type the following in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org openclipart-openoffice.org

Btw, it'll take up about 400MB of disk-space, lol.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Off Topic Post

A set of links to things which I've found interesting over the past few days.

• Post on B4GL forum about Global variables, here.
• Mathematical definition of atan2 command, here.
• FreeBASIC forum, here.
• VBDOS download, here.
• DOSBox setup wiki, here.
• Video of Contortionist Dasha on YouTube, here.
• Post about Sprite Rotation on B4GL forum, here.

Google Pack for Windows

You can download the free Google Pack from here. It contains a lot of free software but it's worth downloading just for StarOffice.

RadASM, FbEdit & ResEd

RadASM is an IDE for Assembly programming, FbEdit is an IDE for FreeBASIC & ResEd is a visual resource editor for FreeBasic & C programmers. They can all be downloaded from here.

Google Earth for Windows

If you want Google Earth for Windows you can get it here.

Posting Special Symbols

Ever needed to post a Symbol such as ‹ or › in your blog?

If you have I suggest you read the following pages here, here, here & here.

LHA Compression in Windows

If you need to use LHA compression in Windows you can download a Command Line version from here. Once you've placed it somewhere on your system you'll need to add it to your PATH environment variable.

Extracting a file is pretty simple: lha x ‹file.lha›

Java in Google Chrome

You need to be using Version 6 Update 10, which you can download from here.

Chrome on Ubuntu Linux

Currently there is no way of building the Chrome browser on Linux but you can build a test version which will output some text to the terminal.

Full instructions can be found on this page.

Google's new browser UPDATE

You must download this browser!!!

I downloaded it from the official Google site here & I have to say it's One of the best browsers that I've ever used. It's also probably One of the fastest browsers that I've ever used too.

Google's new browser

Apparently Google are working on a new browser. There's a 38 page comic which describes what it's all about here.

Rexx & THE Editor

To install in Ubuntu just type this in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install regina-rexx the

Powered by ScribeFire.

Opengl & SDL in Ubuntu

After you've installed Ruby in Ubuntu, you'll want to update Rubygems & install some more software.

First to update Rubygems, type the following in a terminal.

sudo gem update --system

If you get an error such as...

Attempting remote update of rubygems-update
ERROR: While executing gem ... (Gem::GemNotFoundException)
Could not find rubygems-update (> 0) in any repository

Just run the update command again, it should work after a few attempts.

Now type the following in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install ruby1.8-dev

Now type this...

sudo gem install rake

Now enter this...

sudo gem install mkrf

Now this...

sudo apt-get install rake

Also type this...

sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev

Type this in also...

sudo gem install ruby-opengl

Now install SDL...

 sudo apt-get install libsdl-ruby1.8

Finally install Rubygame...

sudo gem install rubygame

Ubuntu Ruby Install

If you want to install Ruby in Ubuntu, just type the following in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install irb1.8 libreadline-ruby1.8 libruby1.8 ruby1.8 rubygems

Tile Map Editor

I found a post here on the Basic4GL forum which contained a useful link to a Tile Map Editor called Mappy.

Ubuntu File Limit

Interesting post here on the Ubuntu Forum about increasing the number of files that can be opened at any one time.

Paint.NET Plugins

Paint.NET along with 'The GIMP' is One of my favourite painting applications. Here is a link to the official paint.NET forum, which is where you can download a lot of useful plugins. Installing the plugins is extremely simple but there are instructions on the site for anyone who needs them.

Useful WMP Codecs

Need to watch films with the xvid.avi file extension? Then download Xvid from here.

If you need to watch films with the divx.avi extension, download DivX from here.

If you want to watch YouTube .flv videos, download PlayFLV from here.

If you have a film which has a subtitles .srt file, download VobSub from here.

Documentary about Elite

Interesting documentary about the computer game 'Elite' which was released on the BBC Microcomputer in the nineteen-eighties can be downloaded from here.

The short 30 minute documentary is designed to be viewed in WMP & you might need to upgrade your player in order to deal with the DRM content.

Digital Mars Success

After spending a lot of time messing about with Digital Mars, I've finally managed to get some OpenGL - SDL programs to compile & run.

I'll be making some posts on my Wikispace later, which will show you how I managed to compile the programs.

Code::Blocks Ubuntu Installation

I was recently browsing through the Ubuntu Forums & discovered a new way of installing Code::Blocks. Read this forum post for more details.

Tomb Raider: Underworld Trailer

It's looking very good & they've also brought back some of the characters who were in Tomb Raider: Legend.

rubyscript2exe bug

Creating an .exe in Ruby is a pretty simple task if you use rubyscript2exe. Recently however a problem has occurred where whenever you try to create an .exe you get the following message.

A bug report has been filed on the Ruby bug tracker by the man who wrote rubyscript2exe & there is also a discussion on comp.lang.ruby here.

Apparently some people encountered a similar issue with rubyscript2exe back in 2007 & another post was made here about it.

Try searching for the following on Google: "Couldn't execute this command (rc=256):"

Installing AbiWord for Ubuntu

If you need a lightweight word-processor for Ubuntu, just type the following in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install abiword-common abiword-plugins

Java JDK for Ubuntu

If you want to install the Java JDK for Ubuntu just type the following in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts

Geany for Ubuntu

Geany is an IDE for Windows & Linux that can be used for various programming languages.

If you want to install the Ubuntu version just type the following in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install geany

DrPython for Ubuntu

If you want to install the Python IDE; DrPython for Ubuntu.

Just type the following in a terminal.

sudo apt-get install drpython

Java Test

Want to know whether or not you've got the latest version of the JRE installed?

Go here, if you see the dancing Duke logo you've got Java installed.

If you haven't got it installed I suggest you download it from here.

Club Nintendo

Back in the early nineteen-nineties I was a member of Club Nintendo. This meant that every 4 months I'd get a magazine through the post. Sadly by the mid nineties Club Nintendo had ceased to exist. Recently however I discovered (when I brought my Nintendo DS) that Club Nintendo has been restarted. Now when you buy a Nintendo product you get points which you can exchange for gifts, you can find more out here.

Irrlicht Game

A friend of mine recently wrote a game for a 12 hour coding jam using Irrlicht & IrrKlang. It currently only supports 2 players & can be downloaded from here.

RAR Decompression in Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install rar

Irrlicht & IrrKlang

Irrlicht is a free graphics engine that can be used to develop your own games. IrrKlang is a free music library that you use to add music to your games. Both are multi format & can be used in many different Operating Systems.

KMPlayer

The KMPlayer is one of the best media players available. In fact I think that it's the only media player that can deal with the .nsv format. The new version can be downloaded from here, I suggest you get the 1432 R2 build.

Wikispaces Live Changes Badge

Last Month I discovered that the Live Changes Badge on my Wikispace wasn't displaying correctly. I spent some time searching on other peoples wikispaces & quickly found that wherever a Badge had been implemented it wasn't displaying correctly. So I sent an E-Mail to Wikispaces to tell them about the matter & now a Month later the problem has been fixed. Apparently there was a problem in the HTML that is used to post the badge. When wikispaces gets updated the correct code for the badges will be uploaded, so all the display problems will be fixed.

Graphics Programming Black Book

The entire book can be downloaded from here. I advice that you use a download manager such as FDM because you have to download more than 70 chapters. You should also download the Gios PDF splitter & merger, it's 100% free & can combine all the separate chapters into one book.

Visualizing Primes in 2D

Nice webpage here on the subject.

NetBeans Bug Feature

Have you ever had that annoying problem in NetBeans where you're compiling a program & the additional files that your project depends on don't get copied?

It happens to me quite often when I'm building a JOGL application. The program will require the JOGL dlls & JOGL jar files which can be found on my CLASSPATH & in the NetBeans libraries. But when I clean & build my app I'll get the following message.

Not copying the libraries.

This is because NetBeans will only copy jar files to the lib folder that your app depends on. If you try & copy any .dll, .so or .class files they won't get copied. You can find more information about this 'feature' at the following links, here, here & here.

Windows Command Prompt Help

Need help using the Windows Command Prompt?

• This page lists the full commands for the prompt.
• An overview of what the Command Prompt does, can be found here.