C(G)++ Compilers in Windows NT – The GNU Way!

When it comes to coding and programming, nothing can beat the linux. It has the most sophisticated compilers out there! Despite this fact, most of the people don’t feel comfortable working with Linux. Although there are certain alternatives and 3^rd party softwares for Windows platform, nothing can get near the GNU compilers. They are updated, fast and error-free. So, GNU has given a windows version of its new compiler for download.

These are the steps to be done to get your system running with GNU C++ compiler!

1. Download the GNU C++ compiler tool (full.exe) here. http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/pages/faculty/alee/g++/full.exe

Check for integrity – SHA1sum - 2266a1cbd63a8a06faf0e44332b678f3f57161aa

1. Run the full.exe

1. It’s a normal setup just like anything else. When you’re done installing it, you need to add the path environment variable. We’ve already seen as to how to add the path variable in glomosim installation setup. If you still find it difficult, brush through the glomosim installation setup guide, ( http://ubuntuone.com/p/kXU/ ) point 1 where we have given how to add environment variables for Visual Studio. In this case for G++ compilers, you just need to do it for path variables with the path address, C:\cygnus\cygwin-b20\H-i586-cygwin32\bin with a semicolon – ‘;’.

That is you add it like <previous path addresses>; C:\cygnus\cygwin-b20\H-i586-cygwin32\bin;

1. For those of you who still find it difficult to add the environment variables, I’ve given a VBScript file that can make things easier for you. Just run it once and your path variables would be added for you. BUT YOU GOTTA RUN THAT ONLY ONCE AND THIS SCRIPT FILE WORKS ONLY FOR THE DEFAULT INSTALLATION DIRECTORY GIVEN BY THE FULL.EXE SETUP. If you install the setup somewhere else, you gotta  tweak the script file. It’s easy, open it through the notepad, look for where the original path has been provided and replace it with that path that you’ve used.

Download the VBScript file here: http://ubuntuone.com/p/sRx/

1. After setup, go for a system-reboot
2. You’re done. Now just type, g++ followed by the cpp file path
3. If yours gets compiled successfully, no errors show up. Else error warning comes up. You gotta manually edit the errors using some text editor.
4. After compiling, just like how you use . /a.out for the a.out file in linux, you use a.exe to view the output here.This is an other alternate way to produce exe files for your c++ codes.
5. Thanks to the Cygwin project !
6. Download the instruction manual here : http://ubuntuone.com/p/sS2/

Common Misconceptions–Yum vs. Apt. Getting things right !

Yellowdog Updater, Modified (also known as YUM) is a command line package management utility –meaning that through a command window, it automates the installation, upgrade, configuration, and removal of software packages from a computer. It is an open source utility, making available to all administrators on a network. There are several tools that enhance the command line interface of YUM with graphical user interfaces –making its functionality better.

Aptitude as an Advanced Packaging Tool (or an APT) that displays software packages and gives the user the ability to pick the packages they wish to install or remove from their computer. Aptitude comes complete with a powerful search system which makes use of flexibility search patterns. It is based mostly on the ncurses computer terminal library –a programming library that provides an API and gives the programmer the power to write a text user interface without the use of a terminal.

YUM is a complete overhaul of its predecessor, Yellowdog Updater (also known as YUP). It was conceived as a means of updating and managing Red Hat Linux systems and has since inception been adopted by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, CentOS, and many other Linux distributions that are all RPM based. The YUM utility synchronises remote metadata to the local client without being prompted to do so. Thusly, YUM is incapable of failing if the user fails to run a command at the interval that particular command requires.

Aptitude comes standard with a command line interface (or CLI), similar to the apt- family of tools (Advanced Packaging Tool, which works with the core libraries in order to execute installation and removal of software). Unlike many other APIs, Aptitude does not require root privileges in order to run. It, instead, shows a prompt to Become Root in the event that those rights are deemed necessary. When Aptitude opens it suggests a threaded list of packages that can be navigated using the arrow keys and the enter key to open and collapse nodes.

YUM also uses a separate tool in order to set up its own repositories. This tool is known as createrepo and generates the necessary XML metadata –as well as the splite metadata if the option -d is selected) necessary to create the YUM repositories. The tool known as œmrepo aids in the creation and maintenance of the YUM repositories.

Summary:

1. YUM is a command line package management utility that manages the installation, upgrade, configuration, and removal of software packages; Aptitude as an APT that displays software packages and gives the user the power to choose which programs she wishes to install or remove.

2. YUM automatically synchronises remote metadata to the local client without needing a prompt; Aptitude has a command line interface that executes installation and removal of software without the need of root privileges.

source: http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-yum-and-aptitude/

Glomosim installation just got much simpler!!!

About a week or a month back, our college seniors had organized a workshop/working session on Glomosim – Global Mobile information system Simulator – a popular wireless/wired simulator that is basically a command line simulator with a Parsec cum c compiler.
The hard part that we faced was the installation! We needed to install JAVA v1.2 and VB6 (installating newer versions of both JAVA and VB meant additional burden on top because newer versions of both the software packages do not have the extra advantage of having the environment variables added automatically to the system).
We were given VB6 that could have environment variables added automatically. But JAVA was newer and we had to manually add environment variables to the PC. As far the glomosim setup, we had no choice. We had to manually add the environment variables for the glomosim to work.
A lot of the participants of the workshop found this extremely tough. A significant time got wasted in instructing students as to how to set up environment variables and helping them. Newbies got very tired of repeated failures in setting the software up.
To overcome this, I have come up with a .exe setup that could make things easier.
INSTALLATION STEPS :
1. Before we proceed to the installation of Glomosim, you need to install two other softwares essential for glomosim to work.
· Visual C++
· Java JDK v1.2 or higher & Java JRE v1.2 or higher
Visual C++ from VB 6.0 package is recommended since, you need not worry about altering environment variables externally. If you prefer to go with a newer version of Visual Studio, then, here are the environment variable lists that you need to manipulate according to your installation package.
PATH : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\Tools\WinNT;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\Tools;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\bin;
INCLUDE : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\atl\include;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\mfc\include;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\include;
LIB : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\mfc\lib;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\lib
MSDEVDIR: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98
You can add environment variables here by Right click my computeràpropertiesàadvanced system settingsàadvancedàenvironment variables
All these files are being installed in C:\
NOTE: DO THIS ONLY IF YOU WANT TO HAVE VISUAL STUDIO 7.0 OR ABOVE. IF YOU HAVE VISUAL STUDIO 6.0 (RECOMMENDED) DON’T DO THIS !




For the java part, download the latest 6.0 version at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html (just Java JDK - the first option there.)
Install both Java and Visual Studio before you proceed further.
2. If you are using Windows Vista/Windows 7, you first need to disable the user account settings to ‘Never Notify Me’. That is, you are trying to disable all the Security features of Windows that prevent you from making changes to it. This is essential for the setup to add the environment variables. If you are using Windows XP, you need not bother about this step. You may proceed to step 2.
Now, how do you do this?
§ Either, type UAC in Start Menu or goto Control Panelà User AccountsàClick ‘Change User Account Control Settings’ at the very bottom of the User Accounts Page.
§ You’ll get a screen very similar to this (Mine is Windows 7 Ultimate – SP 1 )


YOU WILL HAVE TO RESTART WINDOWS TO COMPLETE THIS ACTION. ONLY THEN THE UAC SETTINGS GET SAVED.
3. Now, Run the Glomosim Setup as shown below



If you get a popup complaining of some compiling error, then either you have not turned off the UAC account settings or you have still not gone for a system restart from UAC setting change.
4. After this installation step, half your burden has got over.
5. Now, Click Runàtype ‘cmd’. You’ll get command prompt window there.

· There, type
‘cd c:\glomosim\glomosim\main’

· Now, type ‘ makent ‘. i.e., it will be like c:\glomosim\glomosim\main>makent


· A screen goes like this.

· Now, type cd ..\bin and you will end up like c:\glomosim\glomosim\bin>
Now, type, glomosim config.in
* i.e., something like, c:\glomosim\glomosim\bin>glomosim config.in
· You will get a screen like the one above. Congrats! You have successfully installed glomosim on your PC !
6. In order to continue with Optional Java Visualization tool, you need to configure Java tool.
to do that, copy all the files in C:\glomosim\glomosim\bin to C:\glomosim\glomosim\java_gui.
7. Now, go back to command prompt, and type ‘cd c:\glomosim\glomosim\java_gui’ .
Now, type javac *.java.
8. Now, type ‘java GlomoMain’ to visually see the results.


Download Glomosim.exe here : http://1drv.ms/1ofNOnM
Download PDF Instruction Manual here : http://1drv.ms/1ofNXYi

There might be mistakes and errors in installation process. Please let me know.

Rock(melt)ing !!!

Its been a couple of weeks now, since the first beta version of the Open-Source based so called Social Browser – Rockmelt and yes, there has been a tremendous response from the users. 18.3 K tweets and 49K likes in facebook.com is a no mean task.

     So, what makes this browser so special ? We can, in a way, call the Rockmelt as a “MORE SOCIABLE CHROME”. This is because the browser has adapted its Interface, Java Engines from the Open Source Chromium browser, and the reason why this is called more sociable is that, it has integrated all your Facebook controls to its side bars. Now, this means a lot. The man behind this project, Rockmelt, that has been in development for over two years now, is none other than Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape communications.

 

 

     You get to edit your FB statuses, check feeds, chat, post messages all within the browser interface. Also, the interface looks so cool and fast. Another social plugin that comes packaged with the browser is its twitter plugin. You can subscribe to tweets or twitter feeds well inside the browser. You can subscribe to RSS Feeds from any other supported feed source as well. There is also this “Share” button adjacent to the address bar. You can share links and posts from any website to your FB Wall.

Promo video of Rockmelt

 

     May be, its more like a war now. Browser war has begun and each browser claim themselves to be the best. And social-networking seems to be the mantra right now. By providing easy social messaging capabilities, you tend to aggregate more users towards using your browser and this seems like a cool way to promote your product. This fact has indeed inspired another Free web browser – Flock.

     Flock, which was till now, using the Firefox based interface had shifted to using the Chrome, just like Rockmelt. It also provides the same facilities like Facebook and Twitter clients built-inside the browser. But, lacks that lustre and interface that Rockmelt boasts of. One thing, that can be noted though, is its facility to provide extensions and toolbars just like any other normal browser. If Rockmelt is able to provide this facility then it will just be great.

     Firefox, has applied the same-strategy for its browser, by introducing the Mozilla Messaging Plugin. It can be installed in Firefox browsers ( v3.6 ). It allows you to share links in Twitter and Facebook. Chrome also has its own version of extension for Facebook

     Though, such plugins and extensions exist for other browsers, we must accept that Rockmelt has definitely brought a new trend. It’s an evolution that will speak through generations.

Rockmelting !!!!

 

PS :

Request for your rockmelt browser : http://www.rockmelt.com/

   - this browser, is currently available only on request and you need a facebook account to do this.

Flock Web Browser : http://flock.com/

Mozilla’s F1 Plugin : http://f1.mozillamessaging.com/

Defying Gravity ! ;)

"Everything that goes up must come down. But there comes a time when not everything that's down can come up."

George Burns couldn't probably imagine that his quote would eventually also be applied Google's main page.

Play with the elements and try searching whenever you get tired of it.

 

 

Try it Here :

http://mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/google_gravity/

Why Windows Suck !

     It’s a universally held opinion by most PC users on the planet that 'Windows Sucks'. Most couldn't back this assertion up with concrete evidence though and most anti-Windows comments are actually blatantly wrong or refer to problems long fixed.

     Windows, from a usability point of view, has also come a long way. When you get over the rabid Microsoft hating fervor gripping most people you’ll come to realize that its actually a very well thought out GUI and if looked at from a objective usability based point of view, you can see the time and effort that has gone in to trying to make it as easy to use as possible. Its certainly miles ahead of the Open Source competition.

     But Windows does suck, and the reason is the software. For the uninitiated Windows software installs via an executable file (setup.exe usually) that places the main program files in the directory program files and then places a shortcut, or a folder of shortcuts in documents and settings->all users->start menu. The installing software has complete access to all areas of the hard drive – there are absolutely no limitations on what it can access and where it can put things. The software also generally saves settings in the Windows Registry (a centralized point of failure) via Windows APIs.

     Of course sometimes programs do what they want. If some software wants to install itself in the root of c: (an incredibly bad place to put it) - its allowed. The fact of the matter though is that programs can install themselves anywhere they want, add as many icons as they want to any place they want - and even delete anything that they want.

 

 

 

     The problem with this is that programs think they are much more important than they actually are. Quicktime, which isn't even the worst, and which 99% of people only have to use very occasionally watch a QuickTime file, installs a system tray stub (for settings and fast launch) a Quick-launch icon and an icon in your start menu. Not only that it also runs an updater in the background that'll alert you when new versions of the software come out. Its bundled with iTunes also (you don’t get a choice in the matter you've got to download both) which also gives it a quick-launch icon. I now have 3 icons taking up room on my start bar, some more on the desktop, a constantly running process (quick-launch and auto-update) and a mp3 player when all I needed was the ability to play QuickTime files.

     If just one program does this it is not so bad but even things which don’t even need an icon do it. Acrobat for example puts shortcuts everywhere, features a quick-launch and auto-updater (which I will go into in a minute) yet the only time Acrobat files are actually used is either integrated into the browser (so no launch button is required) or if you open a PDF (double clicking on it opens it in acrobat). Yet icons are everywhere.

 

     The auto-update mentioned in the previous paragraph is a classic example of the bloatware PC's face. Yahoo! Toolbar for Internet Explorer now automatically adds itself to the 'Critical Updates for Download' box beside the 'Security Update for Acrobat'. You can't remove it either, you have to remove the Acrobat update (which removes Yahoo) then re-add the Acrobat Update. The fact I have to go out of my way to separate junkware from valid security downloads is disgusting.

     Yahoo Messenger also now has a nice feature whereby the 'Load this program automatically on startup' button is grayed out unless you log in with a valid Yahoo account. So if someone installs Yahoo Messenger on your computer you can't actually stop it starting whenever you log in to Windows unless you sign up with yahoo, sign in, and then disable it. This wasn't a feature in earlier versions either. Skype goes one step further and simply doesn't give you the option of not starting automatically - If it *does* give you the option I couldn't find it!

     Unfortunately every single bit of irrelevant software nowadays has its own autoupdater, quicklaunch, system tray and start menu icons if it actually needs it or not. Now add RealPlayer (which is one of the worst for it), AIM, MSN, Skype, the usual collection of toolbars foisted on you, the half dozen more pointless icons added by your scanner, printer, OEM and mouse and you've got a slow booting computer with irrelevant icons repeated all over the place (and no room to view running programs) all popping up alerts, news, updates and generally getting in your way. You have to manually delete several dozen or so icons and then try to figure out where the 'stop annoying me all the time' button is buried on each one. It is generally buried fairly well too.
To add the icing on the cake the uninstall process is also handled by the software - Windows has pretty much nothing to do with it. If the installer wants to leave icons everywhere, it does. If it wants to remove key system files or leave software running in the background and not tell you about it, it can. It can even just not work entirely leaving you no decent way of getting rid of it. Installing things in Windows is generally a permanent move.
Most people don't even realise that it’s not meant to be like this - they just think that it’s the way it is and just learn to live with it. I have no idea why software installers are given 100% free reign over your PC, but they are. It’s as big a problem as spyware and it’s the main, large IT companies that are responsible. Sun has even recently declared a public partnership with Google - probably to try and install Google Toolbar whenever you install OpenOffice or Java as MSN’s toolbar (foisted on you by MSN Messenger) and Yahoo's toolbar (Critical Update by Acrobat Reader) may not empower your browser quite enough on their own. It is misbehaving software (and installers) that are responsible for 99% of the unstable, unbootable and otherwise slow to the point of unusable Windows computers.

     Windows without any untrustworthy 3rd party software is as stable as it realistically needs to be 'Windows crashes a lot' is no longer a valid insult - in fact it’s a lie. The last time I saw a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) was when I took a modem out without shutting down the PC first (you cannot really blame Windows for that). You will generally only see a BSOD in the event of hardware failure (not Windows fault), because of a bad device driver, (not Windows fault) or because a 3rd party piece of software has screwed the OS (partially Windows fault).

If the software install was not such a treacherous process, if programs didn't have complete reign over your PC and you could actually uninstall software without worrying about your PC actually starting next time you turn it on Windows might have a chance of being a decent OS. Until then it sucks.

 

source : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=136717

Google Chrome Canary

Google Chrome's team added a new releases channel for early adopters and developers:Canary builds. Unlike the beta channel and the dev channel, Canary builds can be installed without overwriting a regular Chrome build. That means you can install both a Canary build and a regular build that could be on the stable, beta or dev channel.

The Canary build is only available for Windows, it's "installed to a different path, gets updated separately, and runs side by side with an existing stable/beta/dev installation". Google says that the Canary build will usually be the same as the dev build. "Sometimes if necessary, we may push additional updates on Canary build so its version is higher than dev."

 

 

 

"The canary usually updates more frequently than the Dev channel (higher risk
of bustage), and we're working on making it update as often as we have
successful nightly builds. When something doesn't work on the canary, I can
just fall back to my Beta Google Chrome," says Mark Larson, from the Chrome team.
Now that Google Chrome synchronizes bookmarks, settings and it will also synchronize extensions, passwords, browser history, it doesn't even matter that the two builds use separate profiles. Unfortunately, you can't make Chrome Canary your default browser. Google's explanation that it's "a secondary installation of Google Chrome" doesn't make any sense.
Lee Mathews from DownloadSquad thinks that having four flavors of Chrome is "Vista-esque". Google probably noticed that there are many people who install random Chromium builds and decided to offer a channel that updates even faster than once a week, while allowing users to install a stable version of Chrome, just in case the "bleeding edge" builds have major bugs or they're unstable.

 

Download Google Chrome Canary

 

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/chromesxs

 

source : http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/07/google-chrome-canary-build.html