A very good description of truthy, falsy and type conversion

The isolani weblog has a short but effective article describing the truthy and falsy characteristics of JavaScript.  Well worth a read if you want to get your head around it ;0) 

Powered by ScribeFire.

Linux – Continuing the odyssey

Continuing with my trip into the world of Linux, I decided yesterday that I would check out a different distribution to the two i’ve already experienced.  So Far I have tried out Ubuntu Feisty and Fedora 7 and have been impressed with them both.  I’ve managed to get them installed pain free and have had a pretty good experience with them both.

This time I’ve chosen to push myself a bit and have gone with Sabayon Linux.  the version I chose to go with is 3.4e which is an alpha version of the next release.  I fully expected to have a few issues with it being an alpha but bit the bullet none the less.

My initial impression after loading the live CD (a version that runs off the CD for you to try before installing proper), was one of sheer amazement.  As you know I have an HP Pavilion DV5000 series Laptop with an ATI Radeon Xpress 200m Graphics card installed.  Experienced Linux users who are into their gui bling will also know of the pain many people have trying to get CompizFusion running in their distro.  I hope you’ll be as surprised, impressed and in awe of the Sabayon folks as i was when I tell you that Compiz fusion ran off the Live CD!  Full 3D spinning cube bling off the CD!

Well I was impressed and couldn’t wait to get going so I hit the install Icon and off I went.  The usual helpful install app awaits you giving you a simple step by step install process.

You get a choice of either GNOME or KDE for your desktop and this is where I saw my first bug.  I chose GNOME at first as I’d used that before but the very next screen seemed to show that KDE was going to be installed.  There’s also a bug on the partition manager screen that you’ll want to take great care with.  After setting up your partitions and marking which ones you want to format go through the list carefully before you continue.  The theme used is a bit funky and there are black ticks in the format column by each partition that’s going to be formatted.  This is OK except that the background is also black :0)
To be safe, just key through the list using the arrow keys, you can see the columns clearly as each is highlighted.

Once installed you get a decent theme and the desktop runs great.  3D bling didn’t appear for me though and I couldn’t find a way to get it running so I re-installed with KDE.  I figure I might as well try the other desktop type too.
The KDE desktop had full bling from the off for me.  No need to change any settings at all, it just worked.  Also amazingly, my wireless card worked too, just typed in my network password and bingo it was all running.

There’s a huge array of apps installed by default and you get a choice of some cool games too if you are into that sort of thing.  I’m still getting used to KDE and finding my way round Sabayon but so far I am most impressed indeed.

Powered by ScribeFire.

ScottGu – VS2008 Code editor features

I’ve obviously been neglecting to read Scott’s blog for a while.  He’s got a fantastic entry detailing just a couple of the nice features in Visual studio 2008’s code editor.  One nice feature I like the look of is the ability to make the intellisense window transparent so you can see what’s under it.  I’ve often been caught blank minded when coding and had to cancel the intellisense window just to see what the hell it was I was about to do.  the coders version of walking into a room and then forgetting why the hell you went there in the first place I suppose.  Yeh i know I’m weired ;0)

Anyhoo.  Check out the blog entry for more details.

Powered by ScribeFire.

ScottGu – Fixes for common VS 2008 Beta 2 issues

Scott has put together a nicely detailed post on some of the issues being reported with Beta2 of VS2008.  If you have installed the beta or plan to then you’ll want to take a look at his post and familiarize yourself with the fixes.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Beam me up Robbie!

I’m a little gobsmacked and thought twice before i decided to blog this.  Aparently Robbie Williams is in talks to play Kirk in the new Star treck Movie.
I can’t decide if this is better or worse than ben Afleck playing the part.

Either way i thing it’s a bit bizare.

Link to the full story

Powered by ScribeFire.

Vista’s bling… not quite there.

Continuing my chain of posts showing off the flashy bling of Ubuntu with Compiz Fusion. here’s a nice vid that shows Vista’s bling going head to head with ubuntu.

It’s worth noting that ubuntu is running Beryl in this video.  Beryl and Compiz were separate projects for a while but are coming together again to form Compiz Fusion.  A damn good move which we’ll all benefit from.

It’s also worth noting that I’m not doing a ‘my OS is bigger than your OS’ kinda thing, I just thought this vid was interesting, given some of the marketing over how cool Vista looks.  A nice touch at the end when you get to see the Demo curse strike Microsoft from wayyyyy back ;0)

Vista vs Ubuntu, le choc…
Uploaded by blesso

Powered by ScribeFire.

Compiz Fusion – making it fun to work on a computer.

With the recent release of Vista, you’d be forgiven (almost) for assuming that you need a windows desktop to get a good looking operating system to work on.

I’ve been running Ubuntu for a few weeks now and apart from being impressed with the speed and stability of the OS, When I added Compiz Fusion to the mix things went to a whole new level.  Productivity increased and I got a whole new feelgood factor.

It’s not enough for me to just rant on about how cool it is, you’ll have to see it in action for yourself.

i’ve managed to track down a decent video of Compiz fusion in action, this video shows off some of the main features of Compiz Fusion and is by no means a comprehensive showcase of the features.  it’s being improved and updated very often and there’s always some new features being added.

Compiz Fusion
Uploaded by blesso

If you have Ubuntu and want to add Compiz fusion into your desktop check out some of my posts in the past couple of weeks or pop over to lummie’s blog to get hold of a tutorial link

Powered by ScribeFire.