Monday, November 29, 2010

Tarada Linux Website

You can check out the latest news and Changelog at the Tarada Linux Website.

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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Back to Tarada Linux (Again)

The plans have been finalized. The installation method for Tarada Linux is going to be via .tar.gz and make. When completed, you will be able to download it on SourceForge. Typing ./configure will generate the necessary Makefile from a template we made. Typing make will build everything and start the installation configuration program. The installer will ask which installation mode you want to use, make sure you want to continue, then, write configuration files. At this point, nothing on your system has been changed, so nothing up until this point has to be done by root. Once the configuration files have been generated, you can install Tarada Linux with sudo make install. This will launch the actual installer, so it needs to be run as root. The installer will copy files and make changes to configuration files on your computer, then ask permission to reboot your computer. Before you begin the installation process, you might want to backup your /etc/apt/sources.list, as the installation process will overwrite that file.

Posted by Tushar at 11:22 AM 0 comments Listen to this post

Friday, November 19, 2010

Back to Tarada Linux

Tarada has been busy with other matters, but we are coming back to Tarada Linux. We are going to switch Tarada Linux to KDE, and we will get rid of a lot of bloat. Most likely, the installation method will be to install Kubuntu, then pop in the Tarada Linux CD to add Tarada Linux to it. This will be more efficient, and users will be able to choose their Kubuntu version and, possibly, architecture. Plus, existing Kubuntu users will be able to upgrade to Tarada Linux.

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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Tarada Linux 10.04.1 LTS Release Candidate!

Finally, after so many days of working on it, Tarada Linux Release Candidate has been released! I am working on chopping the ISO into small pieces that can be uploaded to SourceForge.

I have already booted it up and tested it out. I found a few issues with the /usr/bin/taradalinux file and fixed them. I have already rebuilt the Debian packages with the fixes and they are on SourceForge. Fortunately, the part of the file that was broken was not the updater. It was the initial repository configuration installer. If you install Tarada Linux for testing, I strongly suggest that you update your install before you do anything.

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Saturday, October 9, 2010

Version 3.0 of the Tarada C++ API is out on SourceForge!. You can download it here.


Changes

  • Removed shell bindings
  • Added 2 new functions
  • All code is now object oriented!
  • Minor bug fixes
Minor documentation fixes


Contributions

If you have any functions you would like included in the Tarada C++ API, email it to taradadev@googlegroups.com. Make sure you tell us your name so we can credit you properly.

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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tarada C++ API On Sourceforge!

I have registered Tarada C++ API on Sourceforge! Check out the project page here! I have uploaded the complete history of taradalib.

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Monday, October 4, 2010

Tarada C++ API 2.1

I just finished writing version 2.1 of the Tarada C++ API. You can download it here. The CRC checksum is 993917324. You can check the CRC checksum of your copy using the cksum command.


Changes

  • Made installer more user friendly
  • Added shell bindings to allow use of the API in shells and shell scripts


Contributions

If you have any functions you would like included in the Tarada C++ API, put it in the comments. Also leave a name and possibly email and website so I can properly credit you in the header file.

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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Tarada C++ API 2.0

I just finished writing version 2.0 of the Tarada C++ API. You can download it here. The CRC checksum is 3473956770. You can check the CRC checksum of your copy using the cksum command.


Changes

  • Fixed installation issue
  • Made it easier to compile programs using taradalib


Contributions

If you have any functions you would like included in the Tarada C++ API, put it in the comments. Also leave a name and possibly email and website so I can properly credit you in the header file.

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Tarada Linux Beta

We tried and tried and tried. Ubuntu Maverick Release Candidate just doesn't have enough compatible software to justify switching to the new OS. We will wait until it is as widely supported as Lucid to start supporting it on Tarada Linux. For now, enjoy Tarada Linux 10.04.1 LTS Beta! If you would like a copy, please request it by emailing us at pcscripts@users.sf.net. We cannot upload the 2.2GB file as it is too big. Sourceforge's servers drop the connection during the upload.

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Saturday, October 2, 2010

Tarada Linux 10.10 Beta

We are currently very hard at work on Tarada Linux 10.10 Beta. We will try to add it to SourceForge soon after completion. The only problem is that it may not be completed. At the time this was written, we were installing packages to Tarada Linux. Most of the packages are not supported on 10.10 so we may have to downgrade it to 10.04.1 LTS. Cross your fingers and hope for the best!

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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Tarada C++ API 1.3

I just finished writing version 1.3 of the Tarada C++ API. You can download it here. The CRC checksum is 2460391383. You can check the CRC checksum of your copy using the cksum command.


Changes

  • Lots of bug fixes
  • Fixed problem with palindromecheck() function


Contributions

If you have any functions you would like included in the Tarada C++ API, put it in the comments. Also leave a name and possibly email and website so I can properly credit you in the header file.

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Tarada C++ API 1.2

I just finished writing version 1.2 of the Tarada C++ API. You can download it here. The CRC checksum is 3593776818. You can check the CRC checksum of your copy using the cksum command.


Changes

  • Serious bug fixes
  • New functions
  • New init function
  • Even better documentation


Contributions

If you have any functions you would like included in the Tarada C++ API, put it in the comments. Also leave a name and possibly email and website so I can properly credit you in the header file.

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Tarada C++ API 1.1

Download the latest release of the Tarada C++ Application Programming Interface (version 1.1) here.


Changes

I have redocumented the entire API. It is a lot easier to understand what each function in the library does.

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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tarada C++ Application Programming Interface

Recently, I have been writing a lot of functions in C++. I've decided to combine them all into one monster library called the Tarada C++ Application Programming Interface. Currently, the API only has two functions, but I plan to add more as the library matures. If you have any functions you would like to contribute, please leave it in the comments.


Installation

You can download the API here. To install it, follow the instructions in the README file. To view the API, install it, then type less [C++_LIBRARY_LOCATION]/tarada/taradalib.h. This will show the header of the API.


If you are a C++ programmer running Linux, please download and install the API. Leave feedback in the comments so I can make the API better.

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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Mini PC Scripts Daily - 09/12/2010

PC Scripts JavaScript Updates

I have added quite a bit of URL shortcuts to PC Scripts. Here is the most current list of them:


Weekly Jeopardy

Look at the standings either by here or going to http://pcscripts.webs.com?url=jstandings and answer this week's questions either by clicking here or going to http://pcscripts.webs.com?url=jeopardy.

Posted by Tushar at 11:21 AM 0 comments Listen to this post

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Some More Updates

I've made a few more changes to the JavaScript on PC Scripts. A new feature I have implemented is URL arguments. This allows you to jump directly to a page rather than selecting it in the dropdown menu. I've only made a few shortcuts so far and here they are:

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Friday, September 10, 2010

A Few Updates

I know I haven't been posting recently but I have school so I am no longer able to prepare stuff for this blog during the weekdays. I will try to continue posting on the weekends (no weekend homework!) though. I have been working very hard on PC Scripts during my computer class (it's not really a class, just a free time to do anything I want on the computer) and I have a few updates today.


PC Scripts JavaScript Updates

I have been working REALLY hard to optimize the JavaScript on PC Scripts. The size of the JavaScript is now very small.


PC Scripts CSS Updates

I finally got around to learning CSS. I have customized PC Scripts a little by changing the font of some of the pages (with so many pages, it's hard to change them all!) and changing the link colors. Also, PC Scripts used to use some depreciated tags to format the layout before. Now, all of that has been changed to CSS so PC Scripts no longer has depreciated tags.


PC Scripts Ad

As you have probably noticed already, I have added an advertisement for PC Scripts on the homepage. The images in this advertisement were created by one of our partners, gSword Creative. More advertisements will come soon in that slideshow. All of our partners are making images that will be displayed in that same ad.


Funny Quotes Section

There is a new funny quotes section on the homepage. It displays a random quote that I found funny every time you load the page. You can also get a new random quote by clicking the "New Quote" button. This will go through the database of quotes and randomly select one. I am constantly adding new quotes to this so check that section every once in a while.


Tabbed Sidebar

The sidebar now has a tabbed interface. This has significantly reduced the amount of clutter in the sidebar. Currently, the "Countdowns" tab is acting up, saying it's a new decade even though the new decade doesn't start until 2011. I had put a countdown to 2011 on that tab but it claims it is already 2011! I am trying to debug this.


Weekly Jeopardy

I have greatly improved the Weekly Jeopardy page's layout over the last week and I also added a standings page. Many people have answered at least one question this week! If you haven't answered a question yet but you want to, click here and fill out the form. I will email you (provide a valid email address!!) telling you whether you got the questions correct or not.

Posted by Tushar at 6:18 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Sunday, September 5, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 09/05/2010

Welcome to PC Scripts Daily! I've decided to drop the edition number from the intro now. Today I have some more updates and a (not) new segment called Weekly Jeopardy! I am not doing part six of the Bash tutorial today. I will start doing a C++ tutorial and rotate between Bash and C++. Today, I don't have a tutorial at all but I will begin the rotation tomorrow, starting with C++. Also, because of some issues with one of our partner sites, I have renamed Apps Weekly to App News.


PC Scripts JavaScript Updates

I tried to combine some of my JavaScript files and it didn't really work so well so I am sticking to multiple file JavaScript. I was able to successfully combine one entire file with the main file but I didn't have any luck with the others. Oh, well. All of the files are extremely compressed anyways so it doesn't matter that much.


Weekly Jeopardy!

A long time ago, I used to do Weekly Jeopardy through email. I took three real Jeopardy questions, one from the first round, one from the second round, and the only one in the third round, and emailed it to ten people. They would email me back their answers and in a week, I would email a leader board to everyone so they could see who got the questions right and who got them wrong.

Today, I decided to start Weekly Jeopardy again but on PC Scripts (PC Scripts didn't exist when I did Weekly Jeopardy). This way, it isn't limited to ten people. Fill out the form here and I will email you to tell you whether you got it right or not. You only have one chance for each question. You may submit the answer to each question separately if you wish but I will count your first response for each question as your final answer. This means you cannot change your answer. Next week, I will post the answers and a leader board to show who got it right and who didn't. If you don't answer the question, it doesn't count against you. If you answer and get it wrong, it goes on the leader board that you got the answer wrong. The leader board will be ordered by the percentage of questions you have gotten right.


Next Edition

I know today's edition is extremely short but tomorrow is the start of the C++ tutorial. After tomorrow, I will stop posting every day because my school (look at the counter on the sidebar) starts and I will be busy every weekday. I will try to post on the weekends though.

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Command Command Revolution 3.0 Released!

It's been ten days since my post about Command Command Revolution 3.0! Now that my computer is up and running again, I have finally been able to package the already finished CCR 3.0 for upload. Now it's on the Sourceforge project.

Download Command Command Revolution 3.0 here. The tar file containing ccr is now compressed with 7zip to make it even smaller than before. Please make sure you have the following packages so you can unpack the file:
  • tar
  • p7zip

If you do not have either of these packages, download and install them by typing sudo aptitude install tar && sudo aptitude install p7zip.

Updates:
  • Lots of bug fixes
  • Completely redesigned kernel
  • New level format


Click here to view the warranty and here to view the license.

To install Command Command Revolution, follow these instructions:
  1. Download the tar.7z file here or type wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmdcmdrev/files/Source/ccr3-0.tar.7z/download
  2. Open terminal and navigate to the location of the tar file
  3. Type p7zip -d ccr3-0.tar.7z && tar xvf ccr.tar && rm ccr.tar
  4. Type cd ccr
  5. Run ./install.sh as a superuser
  6. Make sure /usr/local/bin/ is in your path
  7. Run ./settingsinstall.sh on all users you want to play ccr on. Make sure you do not run it as a superuser! Run it as the user you want to play ccr on.
  8. Delete the ccr install folder by typing cd .. && rm -r ccr
  9. To play ccr, type ccr.sh in the terminal.

To run Command Command Revolution without having a superuser install it, follow these instructions:
  1. Download the tar.7z file here or type wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmdcmdrev/files/Source/ccr3-0.tar.7z/download
  2. Open terminal and navigate to the location of the tar file
  3. Type p7zip -d ccr3-0.tar.7z && tar xvf ccr.tar && rm ccr.tar
  4. Type cd ccr
  5. ./settingsinstall.sh
  6. To run, navigate to ccr/bin/ and type ./ccr.sh.

To install Command Command Revolution on a jailbroken iDevice, follow the instructions below. If you have the package Aptitude, replace apt-get with aptitude in the commands below.
  1. Make your you have either Mobile Terminal or OpenSSH installed
  2. SSH into your iDevice or open Mobile Terminal
  3. Type su
  4. If you do not have the package Tape Archive, install it by typing apt-get install tar. If you don't know whether or not you have it, install it. If you already have it, it will not install anything.
  5. If you do not have the package 7-zip, install it by typing apt-get install p7zip. Again, if you don't know whether or not you have it, install it. If you already have it, it will not install anything.
  6. If you do not have the package wget, install it by typing apt-get install wget.
  7. Type exit
  8. Type wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmdcmdrev/files/Source/ccr3-0.tar.7z/download
  9. Type 7z e ccr3-0.tar.7z
  10. Type rm ccr3-0.tar.7z
  11. Type tar xvf ccr.tar
  12. Type rm ccr.tar
  13. Type cd ccr
  14. Type su
  15. Type ./install.sh and hit return when prompted to
  16. Type exit
  17. Type ./settingsinstall.sh and hit return if prompted to
  18. Type cd ..
  19. Type rm -r ccr
  20. Type ccr.sh to play ccr


Credits
Everyone who helped me make CCR better is listed here.

Nanduhirion

Levels
  • Shell Slave: The Servitude
  • Shell Slave: The Rescue
Posted by Tushar at 12:42 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Saturday, September 4, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 09/04/2010

Hello and welcome to the seventh edition of PC Scripts Daily! Today I have some update, a new segment called Apps Weekly, and part five of the Bash tutorial.


PC Scripts JavaScript Update

I have updated the JavaScript code that runs on PC Scripts. I have fixed some errors and made it more efficient. I have also added the code for the slideshow and I am waiting for our friends at gSword Creative for the images that will go into the slideshow.

I am going to combine as many JavaScript files as possible to shorten the time it takes to load PC Scripts.


Apps Weekly - Simple Note Review

Yes, Apps Weekly is back. Today, I have a review of Simple Note. I can't make screenshots because when I press the Home and Sleep buttons, nothing happens.

Simple Note is similar to Apple's built-in Notes app but it syncs with a cloud. There is a web interface with which you can access your notes. If you have an iPhone & and iPad, your notes can be synced between them, as long as you use the same account on both.

I write PC Scripts Daily on Simple Note and now I edit it on my computer. It's a hassle to edit documents on my iPod Touch. I just write it on my iTouch, go to my computer, edit it, and copy & paste it onto my blog.

Unfortunately, there is no built-in spell checker. It uses Apple's spell checker. It does have a built in HTML parser. It doesn't parse everything but if I type an HTML character (starts with a &, has a word, then a ; ), it will convert it to its parsed equivalent. This isn't normally a problem but since I do PC Scripts Daily in HTML, I have to fix all of the characters that Simple Note changed. Since their web interface doesn't parse HTML, I change the characters back to the HTML code on my computer. Before I got my computer working, I had to do this on my iPod Touch and that took quite a long time. I couldn't do it in Simple Note or else it would be parsed again so once I pasted it into Blogger, I changed them back. This took a very long time and I wouldn't have to do it if Simple Note didn't parse the HTML. I haven't found a way to turn off the HTML parsing but if it's already there, somebody, TELL ME!

If you aren't writing in HTML, Simple Note is a very good application. If you are writing in HTML, it's going to be a hassle to change the characters back but otherwise, it's great. Simple Note is on the App Store for free.


Bash Tutorial - Part 5: Arithmetic

A useful thing to know in any programming language is how to do arithmetic. This is a very simple operation in other programming languages but in Bash, it is very complicated. The syntax for doing an arithmetic operation is varname=$(($var1 operator $var2)). This will apply the operator to $var1 and $var2 and set the value of varname to the answer. For example, to add $a & $b and put the answer into $c, you would type c=$(($a+$b)). $var1 and/or $var2 can also be a numerical number rather than a variable. The operators you can use are: +, -, *, and / for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.


Next Edition

That's all for today. Today's edition isn't very long l but I hope you enjoyed it!

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Friday, September 3, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 09/03/2010

Welcome to the sixth edition of PC Scripts Daily! There isn't much content today but I do have some status updates.


PC Scripts Updates

I have updated the JavaScript that runs on PC Scripts. All of the code has been extremely compressed to shorten loading times. The code is now object oriented as well. The page rendering links have been changed to buttons. I am also going to add a new slideshow to the sidebar. Please make sure you have JavaScript enabled and that PC Scripts is allowed to execute JavaScript code.

If you are interested in viewing the source code of the JavaScript on PC Scripts, do not try to go to the actual executed source files. These files are compressed. To view an uncompressed source file, change the bin/js/*name of source file*.js in the URL to bin/js/source/*name of source file*.js. I tried to document the code as well as I could.


My Computer's Status

My computer has been dead for quite a long time. I have finally been able to start rebuilding the system from scratch and I will be able to do PC Scripts Daily from there. Once I can do that, the posts will be longer because I will be able to type a bit faster than I can on my iPod Touch. Every PC Scripts Daily post out right now has been created on my iPod Touch.


Bash Tutorial - Part 4: File I/O 2

Even if you use the > to redirect output, the next time you redirect to the same file, it will overwrite the old file. Because of this, it is never a good idea to use >. You should use >>. This will create the file if it doesn't exist and add to it if it does exist. This way, you can create a log file for you scripts.


Next Edition

I know today's edition of PC Scripts Daily was short. Tomorrow, I will have part five of the Bash tutorial, an app review on the new Apps Weekly section, and some Apple news.

Posted by Tushar at 3:00 PM 2 comments Listen to this post

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 09/01/2010

Welcome to the fifth edition of PC Scripts Daily. I know I use the same introduction every time but I can't think of anything else! Today was the traditional Apple September event so I have a very large article. I am going to hold off on Bash tutorial part four until tomorrow.


Apple Retail Stores

Apple just opened a new store in Paris. This store is their second one there. The second store in China was also opened recently in Shanghai. Apple's 300th store in the world was opened in London. They are going to open another one in Spain soon.


Sales Figures

So far, Apple has shipped 120 million iOS devices. According to them, they activate 230,000 new iOS devices each day, not including upgrades. 6.5 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store. 275 million iPods (including the iPod Touch) have been sold to date. The songs, TV episodes, movies, and eBooks on iTunes have been downloaded 11.7 billion, 450 million, 100 million, and 35 million times, respectively, by 160 million accounts.


iOS 4.1

iOS 4.1 is going to come out next week for the iPhone & iPod Touch. Apple claims they have fixed a few bugs including:

  • Proximity sensor
  • Bluetooth bugs
  • Extreme lag on iPhone 3G

A new feature called HDR dramatically improves photos on the iPhone. It takes 3 rapid photos with different exposures and combines all three of them to make the best possible image. 2 copies are saved to the camera roll; a normal, non-HDR photo with no changes in exposure, and the image created with HDR, allowing the user to choose which one looks better.

The Game Center is finally out! Features include:

  • Ability to challenge your friends live
  • An automatcher that matches you and your friends with some other people with equal ability if you don't have enough friends to play with
  • Ability to compare scores with your friends
  • Leaderboards
  • Achievements
  • Social integration done without developers having to do so much work


iOS 4.2

In November, iOS 4.2 will bring all of the new features of iOS 4 to the iPad. It will also include a few more features for all iOS devices. These features are:

  • Wireless printing (iPad only - I think)
  • AirPlay (More about that later)


iPod Shuffle

Many people have complained about the iPod Shuffle's design - no buttons. Some people haven't upgraded to the third generation because of the absence of buttons and many others have upgraded because of VoiceOver and the ability to have multiple playlists. Now, the fourth generation iPod Shuffle has the best of both! It is way smaller than the second generation but has the same buttons as the second gen. It also has VoiceOver and the ability to have multiple playlists. Apple also added in Genius mixes. I think Apple has nailed it this time. The iPod Shuffle has 15 hours of battery life and comes in 5 different colors. It ships in a week in the smallest packaging ever. It will cost a mere $49!


iPod Nano

The iPod Nano has been made smaller! How, you ask? By getting rid of the click wheel! How did they do that, you say? By making the display multi-touch! The iPod Nano is VERY small! It's so small, they've added a clip so people can "wear" it like the iPod Shuffle. The iPod Nano is now a touch-based version of the iPod Shuffle. You can rotate the screen by putting two fingers on the screen and rotating them. This tiny iPod has 24 hours of battery life packed into it! The new iPod Nano comes in 6 different colors, including (Product) RED, and is sold in two different models. The 8GB model sells for $149 and the 16GB model sells for $179.


iPod Touch

As suspected, the iPod Touch has been completely redesigned! According to Steve Jobs, it's even thinner than its predecessor. It has a Retina display (960x640), a front & rear facing camera, and a three axis gyroscope, all powered by the Apple A4 processor. The rear facing camera can record full 720p video and the the front facing camera can record in 640x480. These videos can be edited on iMovie on the device itself, just like its 3G enabled counterpart. 3G enabled counterpart. It can conduct FaceTime calls with other iPod Touches & iPhones. The fourth generation iPod Touch will ship in a week with iOS 4.1 pre-installed. The 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB models sell for $229, $299, and $399, respectively.


iTunes 10

iTunes 10 has been released. It is available right now on Apple's website. Apple has ditched their ten year old iTunes logo and use a new one now. iTunes 10 has a better interface than its predecessor. It also has a new built-in social network called Ping. Ping is a social network that's music-centered. Steve Jobs says it's a better way to notify your friends about concerts you're going to and keep track of your favorite artists. Ping is also available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.






Apple TV

No, Apple didn't rename it iTV! The second generation Apple TV is smaller, a lot smaller! It even has the power brick built into it! There are only four connectors on the back; a power connector, an HDMI port, an optical audio port, and an Ethernet port. It also has 802.11n networking built in. It comes with an aluminum remote. The Apple TV is very HD oriented. In fact, it is so HD oriented that it doesn't even have non-HD ports! Like all other iDevices, the Apple TV boasts an Apple A4 processor.

According to Apple, there are no purchases on the Apple TV! You can only rent things. Also, there is no hard drive. Everything is streamed on the fly. HD movies can be rented on the same day as their DVD release for only $4.99, getting cheaper as the movie gets older. HD TV shows can be rented for $0.99 per episode. Currently, only ABC and FOX have their shows for that cheap. Apple is trying to make deals with the other studios to get more shows for $0.99.

Rather than syncing to your computer, the Apple TV streams music and videos from it. It can also turn your iPhoto library into a photo slideshow. It can also stream movies from Netflix, HD videos from YouTube, photos from Flickr and MobileMe. AirPlay allows streaming from your iOS devices. This means that you can be watching a movie on your iDevice while someone else is watching something on your HDTV and when they are done, you can go over to the TV, touch a button on your iDevice, and the movie will instantly appear on your TV!

The Apple TV will ship in four weeks for $99 and can be pre-ordered today.






Next Edition

That's all for today! I will probably post the sixth edition of PC Scripts Daily tomorrow. Hopefully, I will have more than just the Bash tutorial.

Posted by Tushar at 3:00 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 08/31/2010

Welcome to the fourth edition of PC Scripts Daily! Again, I didn't post yesterday. For today, I have part three of the Bash tutorial.


Bash Tutorial - Part 3: File I/O

You know how to get input from and output information to the terminal. Now, I'm going to teach you how to do the same with files. This is useful for file processors like sed.

To output information to a file, you use the echo command with the output redirector, >. For example, if you want to echo "Hello World" to a file called foo.txt in the present working directory, you would type echo "Hello World" > foo.txt.

To send the contents of a file as arguments of a command, you would type <command> 'cat <file name>'. When you put a command between backticks, Bash will execute the command and replace it with the output.


Next Edition

Tomorrow, I might post later than 3:00 because I need time to write about the Apple event. I will also have part four of the Bash tutorial.

Posted by Tushar at 3:00 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Sunday, August 29, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 08/29/2010

Welcome to PC Scripts Daily, third edition! Yeah, I know. I didn't post yesterday. I was busy working on JavaScript.


PC Scripts Enhancements

I wrote some JavaScript to customize PC Scripts. There is a new Page Rendering section on the sidebar. If you click Move Sidebar, the sidebar will be moved to the right. If you click it again, it will move back. If you click Remove Sidebar, the sidebar will be removed. If PC Scripts isn't being rendered correctly (sometimes, the sidebar is displayed twice or three times), clicking Reframe should fix the error. Unfortunatly, your settings are not saved. I'm still working on that.


Apple September Event

On September 1st, I will be releasing PC Scripts Daily later in the day to allow time for me to watch and write about the event.


My Buyers' Guide

If you want to buy something like an iPod Touch or iMac, leave a comment on one of the PC Scripts Daily editions and I will keep track of the item on PC Scripts Daily.


Bash Tutorial - Part 2 - I/O, Variables, and Scripts

If you want to be able to do useful things with Bash, you need to know how to get input from & output information to the terminal. Without that, your programs can calculate things and be very accurate & reliable but it would be impossible to know what the output of these calculations are.

Before you learn I/O, you need to know how to use variables. Variables are small pieces of information stored during a terminal session. As soon as the terminal window or session is closed, all set variables are destroyed. To create a variable, you would type <name of variable>=<value>. For example, if I wanted to create a variable named foo with a value of 1, I would type foo=1. The variable name is not foo, though. It's $foo. This makes it very easy to distinguish between variables & strings.

The echo command outputs data to a command line. If you want to create the well known Hello World program, you would use the echo command. The syntax of the echo command is: echo <what you want to display>. Below is the code & the output:

Code: Output:
echo "Hello World!" Hello World!


To echo a variable, you would type echo $<name of variable>. For example, if I wanted to output the contents of foo (which is 1), I would type echo $foo.

What's the point of programming if you can't get input from anywhere? There is no point! The best way to get input from the terminal is by using the read command. The syntax for this command is read <name of variable>. This will allow the user to type in a value for the specified variable. If the variable specified already exists, it will overwrite the existing value. If it doesn't, it will be created. For example, to ask the user to type in a value for foo2, the following code will be used. In the output, all bold text is typed in by the user:

Code: Output:
echo "Type in a value for foo2:"
read foo2
echo "foo2 is now $foo2" 		Type in a value for foo2:
Hi
foo2 is now Hi

To make Bash run a bunch of commands without you having to type them in every time, you can create a script. Once you create a script and run it in Bash, Bash will act as if each line of the script is a command. Using this, you can make programs that other people can use without much effort. To create a script, create a new file with your favorite editor. When you name it, make sure you put .sh at the end (i.e. foo.sh). Type any command you want Bash to execute into the file, one command per line. Before you can run your script, you have to make it executable. Otherwise, Bash will treat it like a regular file, not as a list of commands that it can execute. To make it executable, type chmod u+x <name of file>. This will tell Bash that you are allowed to execute the file. If you want everyone on your system to be able to execute your script, drop the u (user) from the command and the added permissions will apply to everyone. Once you have made your script executable, you (and anyone else you have allowed) can execute the script. To do this, you will need the full path of the script, the .. shortcut, or the . shortcut. If your pwd is not anywhere near the file, you can execute the script by giving the full path. For example, if the script was in your ~/Scripts directory, it can be executed by typing ~/Scripts/foo.sh. If the script is in the parent directory, you can execute it by typing ../foo.sh. If your script is in the pwd, you can execute it by typing ./foo.sh.


Next Edition

That's all for today! Check back tomorrow (hopefully) for Bash tutorial, part 3 and some more stuff!

Posted by Tushar at 3:00 PM 2 comments Listen to this post

Friday, August 27, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 08/27/2010

Welcome to PC Scripts Daily, second edition! There isn't much to talk about today but I tried to put together some content I've been working on for PC Scripts. My computer is still dead so I'm working on my iPod Touch.  


Bash Tutorial - Part 1
 

I have been hard at work on a complete Bash guide. Here is what I have so far. 

The cd command is probably the most basic & important command in Bash. This command changes the current working directory, which can be printed using the pwd (present working directory). For example, if your present working directory is your home folder (~) and you type cd Documents, your present working directory will be changed to ~/Documents. There are a few file path shortcuts that are very important. The . shortcut is the present working directory. The .. shortcut is the parent directory. The . shortcut is not very useful yet but it will come in handy later. The .. shortcut is the easiest way to chage the current working directory to the parent directory. You can do this by typing cd ... Another useful command is ls. ls lists all of the files in the present working directory.

The cat command displays a file. You can either give it the name of a file in the present working directory or the entire path of a file. For example, if you want to "cat" the file foo.txt (located in the present working directory), you would type cat foo.txt. You can also give the entire path of a file that you want to cat. For example, if you wanted to cat foo.txt but foo.txt was in ~/Desktop/ and you weren't, you can type cat ~/Desktop/foo.txt. If foo.txt is very long, you can use the less command. It is the same as cat except you can scroll through the file with the up & down arrow keys. This is useful for large files.


Next Edition

That's all for today! Tomorrow I'll continue the Bash tutorial and maybe some more content.

Posted by Tushar at 3:00 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Thursday, August 26, 2010

PC Scripts Daily - 08/26/2010

Welcome to the daily PC Scripts news, published every day at 3:00 PM! Quite a few rumors have surfaced on the Web recently. I have consolidated all of these things into one place. 


Apple TV Refresh

It's rumored that Apple will be refreshing the Apple TV (rebranded under the name "iTV") on September 1st, along with some other products. The iTV refresh is said to replace the horribly slimmed down interface with iOS! It's also rumored that the iTV will come with a USB camera that can be attached to a TV like a Wii Sensor Bar, enabling FaceTime conversations on your TV.

The processor that would be used to make all of this possible is disputed. Some people say Apple is going to use an even more powerful version of their A4 processor. Other say Apple is going to use AMD's new Fusion APU chip. This chip is not just an extremely powerful CPU; it's also a very advanced GPU! Still others say Apple isn't going to refresh the Apple TV at all! Apple is currently trying to make deals with TV studios to reduce the price of TV episodes on iTunes from $1.99 per episode to just $0.99 per episode. This is probably to make iTV more attractive pricewise than cable TV. Also, because iTV is rumored to run iOS, it could push iOS game developers to the console market. 


Apple September Event

Yesterday, Apple announced that it's holding its traditional September event on September 1st, a whole week earlier  than last year. Anticipated is the refreshed Apple TV, a second generation iPad, a new iPod Touch with a camera, some updated iPods, iTunes 10.0 and iOS 4.1.  

iPad sales have exploded! Because of the over 3,000,000 iPads sold (Sales figures from Wikipedia), the rumors of a second generation iPad are no surprise. Possible features are a camera and voice & FaceTime calls. If that's the case, it's not going to be worth $500 to upgrade if you already own an iPad.    

When the third generation iPod Touch came out, everyone was disappointed that it didn't have a camera. It was even opened up and pictures showed that there was a space for a camera. This time, Apple might add a camera. If this happens, Apple might add FaceTime using email addresses or the Apple Game Center. The form factor of the iPod Touch could be changed to match the iPhone 4. The new iPod Touch might also have a Retina display. The processor that will make this possible will probably be the Apple A4 processor. 

The iPod line might be updated next week. It's possible that the sixth generation iPod Nano will be released that the event. It might feature more storage space and hopefully, a better microphone. The iPod Classic probably won't be updated because there isn't much about it that can be changed. 

In my opinion, the iTunes interface needs to be updated. It is very bloated and has too many features crammed into each section. The interface needs to be redesigned. Syncing files between iTunes and iPads needs to be a lot easier. Also, there needs to be a way to sync iMovie files between iTunes and iPhones.

iOS 4.1 might enable FaceTime calls through email addresses. This is probably because Apple plans to add FaceTime to the iPod Touch, which doesn't have a phone number. It could bring iMovie to the iPad and iPod Touch. 


Internet Explorer 9 Beta

IE 9 Beta is going to come out soon and I can't wait to see how bad it is! Microsoft Russia has leaked a screenshot of IE 9. It looks just like Windows 7 Explorer (file manager). That might not be a good thing. It makes all of the toolbars and bookmarks inaccessable. Oh, well. That's Internet Explorer for you!

Posted by Tushar at 3:00 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Command Command Revolution

Does anyone have any bug reports or ideas for Command Command Revolution? Please leave a comment if you do. I've just been making under the hood changes to it and I would like to make some actual changes to it but I really have no idea what to do. Also, I will try to release Command Command Revolution as soon a my computer is up and running again.

Posted by Tushar at 11:14 AM 0 comments Listen to this post

Command Command Revolution 3.0

I have finished working on Commad Command Revolution 3.0 but I can't publish it until I figure out how to get my computer working. The Updates are:

  • Big bug fixes
  • Consolidation of all the scripts in the lib folder
  • Under the hood changes like a new way of storing and running level packs

Posted by Tushar at 10:26 AM 0 comments Listen to this post

Dead Computer

My computer is currently in an unbootable state. I am updating this blog and the rest of PC Scripts from my iPod Touch. I cannot figure out what's wrong!


Computer Hardware Specifications

I have a Dell desktop computer, custom-built. It has a motherboard with an integrated graphics card and an integrated sound card. There are a few USB controllers and an 802.3 (Ethernet) port. I also have a PCI internal graphics card (which is the one I use), a PCI internal 802.11 b/g card, and a PCI internal modem. My drive setup is as follows: I have an internal 100 GB Seagate Barracuda IDE hard drive connected as the primary master. This is the drive that my OS and personal files are on. I have an internal IDE DVD-RW drive (I forgot the brand) connected as a secondary master. I have an internal Phillips IDE CD-ROM drive connected as a secondary slave. I have a floppy drive connected as a diskette drive. I have an internal 80 GB Seagate Barracuda IDE hard drive connected through a USB external hard drive case. This is my backup drive.


Computer Software Specifications

My operating system is Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS.


Problem

I installed some updates via aptitude. It told me I needed to restart my computer, so I did. I always turn on verbose mode rather than stare at the splash screen to make sure nothing goes wrong. This can be done by pressing the up arrow key while the splash screen is up. It said it was running fsck, like always. Then, after the output from fsck (which was completely normal), it got stuck. Normally, it is supposed to say Setting sensors limits, then go to the Gnome Desktop Manager login screen. This time, it just sat there after fsck and didn't do anything else. I can boot from the live CD without errors. I can also chroot into the installed filesystem so if I need to, I can install anything that is necessary to fix this problem. If any more information is required or you know how to fix this, please leave a comment. Thank you.

Posted by Tushar at 10:01 AM 0 comments Listen to this post

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Command Command Revolution 2.3 Patch Released

There was a small bug in CCR 2.2 that caused it to always say that there were no updates. This bug was inherited by CCR 2.3. I have updated the tarball for CCR 2.3 to fix the bug. If you have been trying to update through CCR 2.2 and it has been saying that there are no updates, just download the CCR 2.3 updated version here and install it manually. Once this has been done, future updates should be detected by Command Command Revolution (if you have the updater turned on) and it should download the update without a problem!

Posted by Tushar at 6:52 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Command Command Revolution 2.3 Is Out!



Download Command Command Revolution 2.3 here! The tar file containing ccr is now compressed with 7zip to make it even smaller than before. Please make sure you have the following packages so you can unpack the file:
  • tar
  • p7zip

If you do not have either of these packages, download and install them by typing sudo aptitude install tar && sudo aptitude install p7zip.

Updates:
  • Bug fixes
    • Now licensed under the GNU General Public License
  • Built-in Updates Installer
  • More optimized code
  • Better documented code


Click here to view the warranty and here to view the license.

To install Command Command Revolution, follow these instructions:
  1. Download the tar.7z file here or type wget http://pcscripts.webs.com/bash/ccr/ccr2-3.tar.7z
  2. Open terminal and navigate to the location of the tar file
  3. Type p7zip -d ccr2-3.tar.7z && tar xvf ccr.tar && rm ccr.tar
  4. Type cd ccr
  5. Run ./install.sh as a superuser
  6. Make sure /usr/local/bin/ is in your path
  7. Run ./settingsinstall.sh on all users you want to play ccr on. Make sure you do not run it as a superuser! Run it as the user you want to play ccr on.
  8. Delete the ccr install folder by typing cd .. && rm -r ccr
  9. To play ccr, type ccr.sh in the terminal.

To run Command Command Revolution without having a superuser install it, follow these instructions:
  1. Download the tar.7z file here or type wget http://pcscripts.webs.com/bash/ccr/ccr2-2.tar.7z
  2. Open terminal and navigate to the location of the tar file
  3. Type p7zip -d ccr2-3.tar.7z && tar xvf ccr.tar && rm ccr.tar
  4. Type cd ccr
  5. ./settingsinstall.sh
  6. To run, navigate to ccr/bin/ and type ./ccr.sh.

To install Command Command Revolution on a jailbroken iDevice, follow the instructions below. If you have the package Aptitude, replace apt-get with aptitude in the commands below.
  1. Make your you have either Mobile Terminal or OpenSSH installed
  2. SSH into your iDevice or open Mobile Terminal
  3. Type su
  4. If you do not have the package Tape Archive, install it by typing apt-get install tar. If you don't know whether or not you have it, install it. If you already have it, it will not install anything.
  5. If you do not have the package 7-zip, install it by typing apt-get install p7zip. Again, if you don't know whether or not you have it, install it. If you already have it, it will not install anything.
  6. If you do not have the package wget, install it by typing apt-get install wget.
  7. Type exit
  8. Type wget http://pcscripts.webs.com/bash/ccr/ccr2-3.tar.7z
  9. Type 7z e ccr2-3.tar.7z
  10. Type rm ccr2-3.tar.7z
  11. Type tar xvf ccr.tar
  12. Type rm ccr.tar
  13. Type cd ccr
  14. Type su
  15. Type ./install.sh and hit return when prompted to
  16. Type exit
  17. Type ./settingsinstall.sh and hit return if prompted to
  18. Type cd ..
  19. Type rm -r ccr
  20. Type ccr.sh to play ccr


Credits
Everyone who helped me make CCR better is listed here.

Nanduhirion

Levels
  • Shell Slave: The Servitude
  • Shell Slave: The Rescue
Posted by Tushar at 3:48 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Tarada Linux 10.04 LTS Alpha Is Out!

Tarada Linux 10.04 LTS Alpha has been released! Download it (when it's finished uploading) at the sourceforge.net project and help make it better by reporting any bugs you find in the comments.

Posted by Tushar at 3:39 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Tanuj's Corner

About a week and a half ago, my brother, Tanuj, got interested in programming. I helped him learn DOS Batch but it soon became obvious he wanted to do more with his programs. I installed an SSH client on his Windows computer so he could SSH into my Linux computer and use Bash. He then wanted to do even more than what Bash could do so I started teaching him C++.

When Tanuj finishes a program he wants posted, I will post it in the Tanuj's Corner section of the blog.

Posted by Tushar at 9:42 AM 0 comments Listen to this post

Saturday, August 21, 2010

PC Scripts on Google!

PC Scripts is now indexed by Google! Before, it was not on any of the 500 million pages of items that came up fo the search terms PC Scripts. Obviously, I didn't look at every single page of results. I used a Google page rank tool and it couldn't find PC Scripts on any page. Then, I added the HTML <meta> tag to tell Google to index my page. I also provided a short description of PC Scripts. Now, PC Scripts is the 7th item on the 7th search page. Therefore, I have 76 websites ahead of me because there are 10 results per page.
Posted by Tushar at 1:31 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Friday, August 20, 2010

Polynomial Solver - C++

Over the past week or so, I've been posting different versions of my polynomial solver program on the PC Scripts Forums. Now, I have finished it and I probably won't make any changes to it anymore. The program is object oriented and has three files. For convenience, I have packaged the source into a downloadable tarball. It can be downloaded here. The current version of this program is 1.5.


Compiling in an IDE

To compile this program in your favorite IDE, follow these instructions:

  1. Create a new C++ project
  2. Add a new C++ source file and call it polynomialsolver.cpp
  3. Copy and paste the contents of polynomialsolver.cpp into the project source file
  4. Add a new C++ source file and call it Polynomial.cpp
  5. Copy and paste the contents of Polynomial.cpp into the corresponding source file in the project
  6. Add a new C++ header file and call it Polynomial.h
  7. Copy and paste the contents of Polynomial.h into the Polynomial header file in the project
  8. Compile and run the program how you would any other program in your IDE


Compiling From the Terminal

I have not been able to compile this program from the Linux terminal using GCC. If anyone knows how to compile multi-file object oriented programs using GCC, please leave a comment.


Bugs

There are a few bugs in my program.

  • I can't get the private function PrintPoly() to correctly output the polynomial. This does not affect the answer it gives but it cannot correctly display polynomials like x4-500x2+1000. If anyone knows how to fix this bug, please leave a comment.
  • Outputs errors when the sensitivity of GetValues(). Again, if anyone knows how to fix this, please leave a comment.

Posted by Tushar at 12:33 PM 0 comments Listen to this post

Cleaning Your Package Cache - Ubuntu

Do you notice that you are running out of disc space too quickly? After installing a lot of software on Ubuntu, more disc space is used than you think. When you tell your package manager to download and install a package, it has to the downloaded files somewhere! It would be nice to have the packages stored in the RAM but that's not how Ubuntu works. Because of this, to keep your computer running fast, you have to clear the package cache sometimes. This can be done two ways.


Removing Old Dependencies

If you uninstall software from your computer, its dependencies might remain on your system. To uninstall the dependencies, type

apt-get autoremove in a terminal.


Removing Package Archives

If you only want to remove the .deb pre-packaged binaries from older versions of software installed on your computer type

apt-get autoclean in a terminal.


Removing Entire Package Cache

If you want to remove the entire package cache from your system, you will need to install some extra software called Ubuntu Tweak. I will do a full review of Ubuntu Tweak later but for now, let's just get the job we are trying to do done. Once you install Ubuntu Tweak from here, open it and type in an administrator's password if asked to. Click on the second tab under Applications, click the Unlock button, and type in an administrator's password if asked to. Click on the Clean Packages button and check the Select All box. This will not remove the actual programs. It will remove the installers downloaded by your package manager. To remove the installers listed, click on the Clean Up button and wait for Ubuntu Tweak to do its thing. Do this for all of the buttons on the side of the window but do not purge PPAs. The Clean Kernels button will remove the installers for all of your old kernels. If you have never upgraded the kernel, there will be nothing to clean there.


I hope this guide has helped you free up quite a bit of room on your system. Check back soon for a complete Ubuntu Tweak review!
Posted by Tushar at 11:23 AM 0 comments Listen to this post

PC Scripts & Internet Explorer

If you are viewing PC Scripts in Internet Explorer, you may be wondering why all of the text on the pages is underneath the text. This is because Internet Explorer doesn't display PC Scripts correctly. Please switch to another browser like Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, or Mozilla Firefox.
Posted by Tushar at 10:19 AM 0 comments Listen to this post
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