February 2006 - Posts

[SoftDev] Come on, roll your own!
28 February 06 10:18 PM | CSharpener | with no comments

Should you get a little bored and need a nice DIY project, check out BonaFide OS Development!  In particular, see Bran's Kernel Development Tutorial.

Not for the technically timid!

[Graphics] An awesome Blender 3D Tutorial Wikibook!
28 February 06 09:59 AM | CSharpener | 4 comment(s)
Blender 3D: Noob to Pro is a great, free tutorial for the free, open source Blender 3D graphics modeling and rendering software. I still cannot believe how little press and attention Blender 3D gets.  To me, it's the coolest gift the open source community has yet made to those heroic independent graphic artists who strive to create great computer art without access to a huge corporate budget.  Well, the GIMP was another such gift, but Blender 3D rocks!  If this tutorial makes Blender 3D more accessible to CG artists who haven't tried it yet, that would be a huge win.

More Blender 3D Wikibooks
!

[SoftDev] Thinking toward Web 2.0
27 February 06 10:49 PM | CSharpener | with no comments
An interesting post titled Thinking in Web 2.0: Sixteen Ways in Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog somehow stood out in today's readings.  It seems to be keeping company with a number of other interesting articles on Web 2.0.  Worth checking out in greater depth, I think.



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[Languages] LSharp, a new .NET Lisp-like scripting language
27 February 06 08:04 AM | CSharpener | with no comments

From the ancestral line of Lisp, we now have another new scripting language for .NET.  LSharp "uses a Lisp dialect similar to Arc."   LSharp is Open Source (GPL).  More information is available on Rob Blackwell's Web Log.

[Languages] Zonnon, a new .NET language
27 February 06 07:58 AM | CSharpener | with no comments

Descending from the heritage of Pascal, Modula-2, and Oberon, Zonnon is a new language for .NET.  According to the Zonnon website, "It retains an emphasis on simplicity, clear syntax and separation of concerns whilst focusing on concurrency and ease of composition and expression. Unification of abstractions is at the heart of its design and this is reflected in its conceptual model based on modules, objects, definitions and implementations. Zonnon offers a new computing model based on active objects with their interaction defined by syntax controlled dialogs. It also introduces new features including operator overloading and exception handling, and is specifically designed to be platform independent." 

Lofty goals, indeed!   

While the first implementation of Zonnon is for .NET, it aims at platform independence.  The .NET implementation includes Microsoft Visual Studio.NET integration but also provides Zonnon Builder, an "alternative simple IDE."

[Tools] PocketMod - Little White Notebooks for You and Me
16 February 06 03:58 PM | CSharpener | with no comments

I am happy to introduce PocketMod, "the free disposable personal organizer," one of the coolest little inventions I have seen in some time.  For years I have folded up 8.5 * 11 inch paper in varoius ways to make myself little notepads I could carry around in my back pocket or shirt pocket.  I am furious with myself that I wasn't smart enough to do what the creator of PocketMod did!  No, I'm not going to spoil the fun; you have to go there to find out what this is all about.

P.S. Usually, we celebrate inventors who use the latest and coolest high technology and who require millions, if not billions, of dollars of startup capital to get their projects or products off the ground. To me, however, the person who can invent a really new and useful item based upon the unique qualities of a single sheet of ordinary typing paper is truly an inventive genius. I don't even know the name of the inventor of PocketMod, but I do know the work of a master inventor when I see it! Kudos and thanks for sharing!

[Database] New! IBM DB2 Express-C - Free!
08 February 06 01:57 PM | CSharpener | with no comments
Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it!
 
The venerable IBM has set a somewhat simplified version of it's workhorse database, DB2, free. Check out IBM DB2 Express-C for Linux and Windows.
[Tools] New! VMware Server is now free!
06 February 06 09:30 AM | CSharpener | with no comments
In addition to the already free VMWare Player, VMware has just announced that they will now offer VMware Server for free.  While targeted at "users new to server virtualization technology," VMware Server may meet the basic virtualization needs of a lot of us.  VMware hopes that most serious users will ultimately migrate upwards to their more enterprise-level products.  For details, see the VMware Server Beta FAQ.
 
If you want to be able to run Windows and Linux operating systems and applications on the same physical server - whether for testing, debugging, or other purposes - you will probably want to have a look at VMware's not-so-little gift, VMware Server.
 
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[Tools] Developers - IE 7 Beta is available
01 February 06 07:21 PM | CSharpener | 1 comment(s)
Microsoft has posted the IE 7 Beta for Windows XP SP2.
 
Enjoy!
 
 
[Tools] Get a free Wiki at PBWiki.com
01 February 06 04:37 PM | CSharpener | with no comments
I like to use wikis for a number of reasons.  If you need a wiki or just want to experiment with one, I can personally recommend PBwiki as a good choice.  A basic is free, with registration, and if you need more than that, they do have a premium plan.  Their tagline is: "PBwiki makes creating a wiki as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich."  They're right.
 
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