Apsalus, powered by DirectX!!

How did they port DirectX to BSD?

Obfuscated Code

Seeing this example of an obfuscated code:

_(__,___,____){___/__<=1?_(__,___+1,____):!(___%__)?_(__,___+1,0):___%__==___/
__&&!____?(printf("%d\t",___/__),_(__,___+1,0)):___%__>1&&___%__<___/__?_(__,1+
___,____+!(___/__%(___%__))):___<__*__?_(__,___+1,____):0;}main(){_(100,0,0);}

Reminded me of a famous quote "Real programmers can write assembly code in any language." only this time, more appropriately, it would be "Real programmers can write brainfuck in any language."
For those of you who don't know what Brainfuck is, you can read about it at Wikipedia/Brainfuck.

Shell Scripting for Dummies

Is there such a book?

I've never took scripting seriously, nor bothered learning it, I had plenty of reasons for this. I've never grasped dynamic typing, I can only think in statically typed languages, and dynamically typed languages are a nightmare from my past experiences. I don't like interpreted languages, either, which is mostly the case for dynamically typed languages, for some reason, if it doesn't generate a binary, I can't get myself into thinking that it'll work, or is working. Java was an exception because it generates a bytecode that could be bundled in JAR files.

Anyway now though I found myself in need of writing shell scripts to automate repetitive and boring tasks. It can't be too hard, I just need to be more flexible, think dynamically, and comfortable with operators like | and >, i.e PIPE and REDIRECT.

The question is what shell scripting language to learn? There are plenty of them, on Unix and Unix-like OSes and then there are some cross-platform like Perl, though Perl is much more than just a scripting language.

I'm inclined towards spending time getting fluent in BASH, it is standard on most Unix and Unix-like OSes as part of the GNU Utilities. There are various ports of BASH to Windows as well.

Microsoft now has the PowerShell, which is really great for admins and people doing boring repetitive tasks at work, like me. More specifically Windows admins and people doing boring repetitive tasks at work, like me. It uses the .Net framework and is supposed to be just right for Windows, since a lot of Windows Server software from Microsoft now has PowerShell scripting frontend.

I came across a BASH tutorial, and there a lot of them if you just search for "BASH tutorial", it doesn't seem to horrifying, in an odd way I think I like it.

My Apple Wishlist for 2009!

As always Apple keeps tight lips about future plans and this leads to some so called tech journalists making some ridiculously stupid predictions. Apple is not the company to rest on its past laurels, its passionate pursuit of perfection has it obsoleting its own products a year later.

So what's next from Apple?
Well.. They've already established the iPhone as a strong platform, Mac sales are growing faster than the PC industry and the iPod is dominating its market, or as some would call it the iPod market. Other than the usual annual updates, what else?
I don't have crystal ball I can see through nor am I an insider, but I do wish for some products from Apple, and they are:

1. Mac Pro Mini or Mac Mini Pro, a configurable mini tower that is positioned between the Mac Mini and Mac Pro, for those of us who want something more configurable than the iMac.
2. MacBook Pro w/ dual battery bays, kinda like the PowerBook G3, where you could remove the optical drive and add another battery.
3. AppleTV Games, a version of AppleTV with better graphics capabilities, obviously it needs a better name, but this could be Apple's videogame console, based on the AppleTV, runs OS X and uses iTunes as a delivery medium, for games in addition to the extensive music and videos list.
One more bit about AppleTV Games, it doesn't need to go after the so-called hardcore market, the Wii has shown that there is a market for videogames beyond that, and this where Apple can come into play.

Resolving a list of hostnames!

Today I had to resolve a list of hostnames the long way, yeah that way! The thing is, I have no skill whatever in writing Windows batch files, if it were bash or csh, I could of written something in a minute and got moved on.

#!/bin/bash
while read hostname
do
ping REPLY > ipList.txt
done

Probably something like this would of done, I haven't tested it though.

An Inconsistent UI

I've felt like ranting a bit about Windows inconsistent UI, which seems to me as if it wasn't designed but just happened, different teams working on different UI elements for different products without following a consistent model, unlike Mac OS X, for example.

Both Office 2007 and Windows Media Player 11 do away with traditional menu bars.

Interestingly Outlook 2007 keeps them around, but not in the compose dialog.

Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11, give you the option to enable the menu bar if you really want it, Office 2007 on the other hand doesn't, even though it needs it the most.



Another interesting aspect about menu bars in Windows is their alt behavior, some will only show you the underlined letters if you click and hold alt, others will show it to you by default.

So who is in charge?
It's not like GNU/Linux where thousands of people work on different portions of it, inconsistencies are bound to happen! All of programs here are from one provider, you'd think they'd have some standard UI guidelines!

Playstation 4 details leaked!!

In an attempt to make up for the PS3 mess and keep up with Nintendo, Sony intentionally leaked some details about the PS4, to ramp up demand and slow the influx of gamers to the Wii.

I wonder what's in the box?
hint: click on the box to find out!

Read more..

I'm not a genius like a computer!

I don't know how accurate the subtitles are, but funny nontheless.

GoboLinux file system hirerachy done right!

In a previous rant I complained about the nonsense that is the file system hierarchy in most Unix and Unix-like OSes. NeXTSTEP and its successor Mac OS X done away with it in favor of a more logical file system hierarchy. Recently I learned about GoboLinux, and its breakthrough feature is its file system hierarchy. GoboLinux did away with the nonsense of the File System Hierarchy Standard in favor of a simpler NeXTSTEP/Mac OS X like hierarchy. All your apps are placed in /Programs/ and thus the hierarchy becomes the package manager.

There are other interesting aspects about GoboLinux, more about them here and here.

Firefox 3 running on ReactOS 0.3.6

How 2010 can be the year of the Linux desktop?

Just a note before I start, these suggestings are only for the distros that want to succeed in the desktop world, community based distros that aren't interested and cater to a different user base obviously are not the target for this!

Another note, by year of the Linux desktop, I don't mean 20% or some crazy nonrealistic marketshare not even 5%, I mean the beginning of being considered by the avergae joe as a desktop alternative to other more popular OSes. For GNU/Linux to gain any significant market share it first needs to win the hearts and minds, and my suggestions should help GNU/Linux win the hearts and minds.

01. Don't call nor associate it with Linux, for technical as well as marketting reasons. First of all Linux is not an OS, it is but a kernel, and more importantly after the failed attempts of Linux on the desktop people now associate the name Linux with 'not ready', 'hard to use' and 'free because no one is willing to pay for it'

02. Charge for it! Not ovecharge! Something around $30 - $60 should do. There are people wondering why it is free and whether there is a catch to it?! People expect all good things to cost a pretty penny and all things cheap.. well cheap!

03. Marketing! Let people know about your OS. Show off what it can do in short smart ads. Run the ads during primetime, to reach as large of an audiance as possible.

04. Strike a deal with as many OEMs as possible to have them preload the OS in as many computers as possible. The more people see it preloaded, the more they see it running, the more they consider it as a viable option.

05. Unlimited Support for the lifetime of the product. Just like how extended warranties can sell products, extended support can sell software. If you truely trust your product this should be a no-issue.

06. Support as much hardware as possible! and let people know what hardware is currently supported and what isn't! So what if the drivers are propreitary? Most people don't care! I personally don't! I want things to work and so does everyone! Cooperate with manufacturers and have them write drivers for Linux.

07. Reduce regressions! Things should not stop functioning after updating your system or upgrading to a newer release!

08. Less choice! Less configuration options! Too many choices is confusing, especially to new users, and too many configurations means either more time spent testing them, or they don't get enough testing!

09. Put away the terminal! Make everything easily customizable from the standard GUI. Of course I'm not suggesting complete removal of the terminal, as users get accustomed to the system they might opt to use it, just like in Mac OS X.

10. Last but not least! A single binary for all desktop distros! I don't care whether it is deb, rpm or a whole new package manager! Just make it happen! This means less headache for developers and users.

Should Apple come up with its own netbook?

Netbooks, these substandard, cumbersome, underpowered err- I mean these small, trendy, inexpensive and efficient laptops took off and are becoming the next major thing, or whatever. Apparently, not all people need a lot of Hz, and are pretty satisfied with anything that is decent enough for them to get on the Interwebs, watch movies and listen to music. Some of them netbooks are well below 1 GHz, have no dedicated GPU, some of them has well below 80 GB of storage, and very small and cumbersome displays; yet this didn't put off the people who buy them.
I personally have no interest in revisiting the late 90s, that's why I've never considered nor will I ever consider one, but their success got me thinking, maybe Apple should bring something below $1099, it'll generate a lot of interest for Apple and help it grow a bit more, I'm not suggesting EeePC specs or EeePC prices, but something around $949 should do the job, maybe even start at as low as $899, be very well equipped and still a bit exclusive as all Macs should be.

Where are all my apps?!

One of the things I hate about GNU/Linux is the confusing directory structure. There isn't one specific loaction for your apps as in Mac OS X, and to some extent in Windows, everything is all over the place.

You'll find some apps, or at least that what I found in my setup, in:

/opt
/usr/bin
/usr/lib
/urs/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/share

and in some times they are mixed with system programs and libraries! It is a mess! Finding stuff is pretty confusing already with all the directories and their subdirectories.

This is a relic from Unix, and should be abandoned, the directory structure should be cleaned. All user apps should be in one place such as /home/username/bin for apps or /usr/bin and all system apps should in /sys/bin, but this makes too much sense and thus will never happen!

Things Apple can do to kill off the clones without the need to go to court!

It wasn't long after Apple switched to x86 processors before people figured out a way to run Mac OS X on non-Mac hardware, and this gave way to unlicensed Mac-clones like the Psystar OpenComputer.

Instead of battling the clones legally, I suggest things Apple can put into action and kill off the clones without any legal battle and bad media coverage.

1. Custom chipsets. Before the switch to Intel processors, Apple used custom chipsets and PowerPC processors, those two stood as barriers against cloning. Now though Apple uses processors and chipsets that are readily available off the shelf.
2. Sell OS X as an upgrade, don't sell a full version of OS X. Any upgrade will require a full version of OS X to be preinstalled. All Macs come with OS X preinstalled and a full version of OS X software.
   

This way, Apple can limit and possibly kill off the clones, without having to battle it legally or having to punish Mac owners with things like Windows Genuine disAdvantage and Windows Activation.

No! I loved the fat iPod nano!

Rumors has it that Apple will bring back the narrow form-factor back to the iPod nano. I personally loved the fat form-factor of the 3rd gen nano, it made it look a lot like the iPod Classic, and made the older nano and all its ripoffs (Zune 4 and Zune 8) look old. A narrower form-factor with a long screen will make the new nano look like it is imitating the ugly Zune; that's something Apple doesn't want to do.
I hope it is just a rumor, and I want the nano to retain its current form-factor.