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• Weekend Project: Build a Fireball Launcher

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  What’s more fun than playing with fire? Shooting it from your hands. Put on your robe and wizard hat, make a stop at the hardware store, and spend the weekend trying to convince your friends you’ve acquired supernatural powers. Over at MAKE Magazine, Joel Johnson explains the impetus for his project: A stalwart of close-quarter magicians for years, the electronic flash gun is a simple device: a battery-powered, hand-held ignitor that uses a “glo-plug” to light a bit of flash paper and cotton, shooting a fireball a few feet into the air. You can buy one from most magic shops for around $50, but if you build one on your own, you’ll not only save a few bucks, you’ll also learn how easy it is to add fire effects to almost any electronics project. (And what gadget couldn’t stand a little more spurting flame?) The parts list is minimal but the end effect is pretty fantastic. Hit up the link below for the full build guide, plenty of warnings, and a weekend project that’s sure to impress. How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 3 How to Sync Your Media Across Your Entire House with XBMC How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 2

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• Is there a LOGO interpreter that actually has a turtle?

  - by Tim Post

  This is not a repeat of the now infamous "How do I move the turtle in LOGO?" Recently, I had the following conversation with my five year old daughter: Daughter: Daddy, do you write programs? Me: Yes! Daughter: Daddy, what's a program? Me: A program is a set of instructions that a computer follows. Daughter: Daddy, can I write a program too? Me: Sure! This got me scrambling to think of a very basic language that a five year old could get some satisfaction from mastering rather quickly. I'm ashamed to admit that the first thing that came to mind was this: 10 INPUT "Tell me a secret" A$ 20 PRINT "Wow really? :" A$ 30 GOTO 10 That isn't going to hold a five year old's attention for very long and it requires too much of a lecture. However, moving a turtle around and drawing neat pictures might just work. Sadly, my search for a LOGO interpreter yielded noting but ad ridden sites, flight simulators and a whole bunch of other stuff that I really don't want. I'm hoping to find a cross platform (Java / Python) LOGO interpreter (dare I call it simulator?) with the following features: Can save / replay commands (stored programs) Has an actual turtle Sound effects are a plus Have you stumbled across something like this, if so, can you provide a link? I hate to ask a 'shopping' sort of question, but it seemed much better than "Is LOGO appropriate for a five year old?"

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• Why is my model's scale changing after rotating it?

  - by justnS

  I have just started a simple flight simulator and have implemented Roll and pitch. In the beginning, testing went very well; however, after about 15-20 seconds of constantly moving the thumbsticks in a random or circular motion, my model's scale begins to grow. At first I thought the model was moving closer to the camera, but i set break points when it was happening and can confirm the translation of my orientation matrix remains 0,0,0. Is this a result of Gimbal Lock? Does anyone see an obvious error in my code below? public override void Draw( Matrix view, Matrix projection ) { Matrix[] transforms = new Matrix[Model.Bones.Count]; Model.CopyAbsoluteBoneTransformsTo( transforms ); Matrix translateMatrix = Matrix.Identity * Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle( _orientation.Right, MathHelper.ToRadians( pitch ) ) * Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle( _orientation.Down, MathHelper.ToRadians( roll ) ); _orientation *= translateMatrix; foreach ( ModelMesh mesh in Model.Meshes ) { foreach ( BasicEffect effect in mesh.Effects ) { effect.World = _orientation * transforms[mesh.ParentBone.Index]; effect.View = view; effect.Projection = projection; effect.EnableDefaultLighting(); } mesh.Draw(); } } public void Update( GamePadState gpState ) { roll = 5 * gpState.ThumbSticks.Left.X; pitch = 5 * gpState.ThumbSticks.Left.Y; }

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• What is the best type of c# timer to use with a Unity game that uses many timers simultaneously?

  - by Kyle Seidlitz

  I am developing a stand-alone 3d game in Unity that will have anywhere from 1 to 200 timers running simultaneously. There will be a GameObject containing 1 timer. For this game timer durations will range from 5 minutes to 4 days. There will not be any countdown displays or any UI for the timers. Each object is a prefab, with all the necessary materials included. An attached script will handle the timer and all the necessary code to change the materials and make any sound effects. Once the timer is expired, the user will then click on the object again, and the object will be destroyed, and the user's inventory will be adjusted. If the user wants to save or end the game before all the timers are done, the start value of the still running timers is to be saved to an XML file such that when the game is started again, any still running timers will be checked to see if they have expired, where the object's materials will be changed appropriately. I am still trying to figure out what type of timer to use, and see also if there are any suggestions for saving and calculating times over several days. What class(es) of timers should I use? Are there any special issues I should look out for in terms of performance?

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, November 12, 2013

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, November 12, 2013Popular ReleasesExport Version History Of SharePoint 2010 List Items to Microsoft Excel.: ExportVersionHistory_R9: Fix for "&" in List TitleSharePoint Client Browser for SharePoint 2010 and 2013: SharePoint 2013 Client Browser v1.1: SharePoint 2013 Client Browser v1.1, released: 11/12/2013 - Added splash screen on startup for better user experience - Added support for Taxonomy (Term Store, Group, Term Set and Terms) - Added limited support for User Profiles, only showing current user profile - Fixed columns issue with Raw Data tab (clearing columns)sb0t v.5: sb0t 5.16 r2: Fixed PM blocking bug. Allow room scribbles by supported clients. Link user list bug hopefully fixed. Ignore scribbles for ignored users. Fixed additional PM bug.NuGet: NuGet 2.7.2: 2.7.2 releaseDomain Oriented N-Layered .NET 4.5: AutoNLayered v1.1.1: - MVC 5 - Entity Framework 6 (Asynchronous architecture - TAP) - Improvements in services, repository, uow...Paint.NET PSD Plugin: 2.4.0: PSDPlugin version 2.4.0 requires Paint.NET 3.5.11. Changes: Multichannel images can now be loaded, with each channel showing up as a separate grayscale layer. More reliable loading of files with layer groups created in Photoshop CS5 and CS6. Faster loading of PSD files. Speed improvement of 1.1x to 1.5x on 8-bit images, and about 15% on 32-bit RGB images. More efficient RLE compression, with file sizes reduced by about 4% on average. The PsdFile class can now load and save most PSD...Lib.Web.Mvc & Yet another developer blog: Lib.Web.Mvc 6.3.3: Lib.Web.Mvc is a library which contains some helper classes for ASP.NET MVC such as strongly typed jqGrid helper, XSL transformation HtmlHelper/ActionResult, FileResult with range request support, custom attributes and more. Release contains: Lib.Web.Mvc.dll with xml documentation file Standalone documentation in chm file and change log Library source code Sample application for strongly typed jqGrid helper is available here. Sample application for XSL transformation HtmlHelper/ActionRe...Magick.NET: Magick.NET 6.8.7.501: Magick.NET linked with ImageMagick 6.8.7.5. Breaking changes: - Refactored MagickImageStatistics to prepare for upcoming changes in ImageMagick 7. - Renamed MagickImage.SetOption to SetDefine.Media Companion: Media Companion MC3.587b: Fixed* TV - Locked shows display correctly after refresh * TV - missing episodes display in correct colour for missed or to be aired * TV - Rescrape of Multi-episodes working. * TV - Cache fix where was writing episodes multiple times * TV - Fixed Cache writing missing episodes when Display missing eps was disabled. Revision HistoryGenerate report of user mailbox size for Exchange 2010: Script Download: Script Download http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Generate-report-of-user-e4e9afcaCheck SQL Server a specified database index fragmentation percentage (SQL): Script Download: Script Download http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Check-SQL-Server-a-a5758043Save attachments from multiple selected items in Outlook (VBA): Script Download: Script Download: http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Save-attachments-from-5b6bf54bRemove Windows Store apps in Windows 8: Script Download: Script Download http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Remove-Windows-Store-Apps-a00ef4a4PCSX-Reloaded: 1.9.94: General changes:Support for compressed audio in cue files. ECM support. OS X changes:32-bit support has been dropped Partial French and Hungarian translationsVidCoder: 1.5.12 Beta: Added an option to preserve Created and Last Modified times when converting files. In Options -> Advanced. Added an option to mark an automatically selected subtitle track as "Default". Updated HandBrake core to SVN 5878. Fixed auto passthrough not applying just after switching to it. Fixed bug where preset/profile/tune could disappear when reverting a preset.Toolbox for Dynamics CRM 2011/2013: XrmToolBox (v1.2013.9.25): XrmToolbox improvement Correct changing connection from the status dropdown Tools improvement Updated tool Audit Center (v1.2013.9.10) -> Publish entities Iconator (v1.2013.9.27) -> Optimized asynchronous loading of images and entities MetadataDocumentGenerator (v1.2013.11.6) -> Correct system entities reading with incorrect attribute type Script Manager (v1.2013.9.27) -> Retrieve only custom events SiteMapEditor (v1.2013.11.7) -> Reset of CRM 2013 SiteMap ViewLayoutReplicator (v1.201...Microsoft SQL Server Product Samples: Database: SQL Server 2014 CTP2 In-Memory OLTP Sample, based: This sample showcases the new In-Memory OLTP feature, which is part of SQL Server 2014 CTP2. It shows the new memory-optimized tables and natively-compiled stored procedures, and can be used to show the performance benefit of in-memory OLTP. Installation instructions for the sample are included in the file ‘awinmemsample.doc’, which is part of the download. You can ask a question about this sample at the SQL Server Samples Forum Composite C1 CMS - Open Source on .NET: Composite C1 4.1: Composite C1 4.1 (4.1.5058.34326) Write a review for this release - help us improve, recommend us. Getting started If you are new to Composite C1 and want to install it: http://docs.composite.net/Getting-started What's new in Composite C1 4.1 The following are highlights of major changes since Composite C1 4.0: General user features: Drag-and-drop images and files like PDF and Word documents directly from your own desktop and folders into page content Allow you to install Composite For...CS-Script for Notepad++ (C# intellisense and code execution): Release v1.0.9.0: Implemented Recent Scripts list Added checking for plugin updates from AboutBox Multiple formatting improvements/fixes Implemented selection of the CLR version when preparing distribution package Added project panel button for showing plugin shortcuts list Added 'What's New?' panel Fixed auto-formatting scrolling artifact Implemented navigation to "logical" file (vs. auto-generated) file from output panel To avoid the DLLs getting locked by OS use MSI file for the installation.WPF Extended DataGrid: WPF Extended DataGrid 2.0.0.10 binaries: Now row summaries are updated whenever autofilter value sis modified.New Projectsasmhighlighter fork for Visual Studio 2013: asmhighlighter fork for Visual Studio 2013 Added more customizable colors in Visual Studio 2013->Options->Font and colors Centrafuse Plugin for Mapfactor Navigator: This Centrafuse plugin embeds Mapfactor Navigator as a window into Centrafuse and integrates it as the Navigation Engine.Coded UI Hybrid Test Automation Framework: A blueprint of a Hybrid Coded UI Test Automation Framework which aims to eliminate hardships and increase its adoption across various organizations.Excel add-in for Generalized Jarrow-Rudd option pricing: Excel add-in to call fmsgjr code.FindFileTool: This is the program file has been released Lotte search toolFJYC_PLAN(new): PLANGeneralized Jarrow-Rudd Option Pricing: Perturb cumulants of normal distributions instead of lognormal.Hawk LAN Messenger: My First LAN Messenger Project............ Hydration Kit for App-V 5 Sequencing: This kit builds automated installers for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 sequencing environments.MDCC Taxi: Overwrite of the scheduled and ordeder taxis to drive employees of Microsoft Development Centre Copenhagen to the local train in SkodsborgMeetSomeNearbyStranger: This project represents a web service for an android application with the same name.MsgBox: This project contains a message box service locator implementation implemented in C# and WPF.SuperSocket FTP Server: A pure C# FTP Server base on SuperSocketxRM Import-Export Solution Manager for Microsoft Dynamics CRM: This tool provides the ability to automatise the Import-Export of Solutions in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and 2013, also generating a powershell outcome

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• Memory limiting solutions for greedy applications that can crash OS?

  - by Hooked

  I use my computer for scientific programming. It has a healthy 8GB of RAM and 12GB of swap space. Often, as my problems have gotten larger, I exceed all of the available RAM. Rather than crashing (which would be preferred), it seems Ubuntu starts loading everything into swap, including Unity and any open terminals. If I don't catch a run-away program in time, there is nothing I can do but wait - it takes 4-5 minutes to switch to a command prompt eg. Ctrl-Alt-F2 where I can kill the offending process. Since my own stupidity is out of scope of this forum, how can I prevent Ubuntu from crashing via thrashing when I use up all of the available memory from a single offending program? At-home experiment*! Open a terminal, launch python and if you have numpy installed try this: >>> import numpy >>> [numpy.zeros((10**4, 10**4)) for _ in xrange(50)] * Warning: may have adverse effects, monitor the process via iotop or top to kill it in time. If not, I'll see you after your reboot.

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• Creating a 2D Line Branch

  - by Danran

  I'm looking into creating a 2D line branch, something for a "lightning effect". I did ask this question before on creating a "lightning effect" (mainly though referring to the process of the glow & after effects the lightning has & to whether it was a good method to use or not); Methods of Creating a "Lightning" effect in 2D However i never did get around to getting it working. So i've been trying today to get a seconded attempt going but i'm getting now-were :/. So to be clear on what i'm trying to-do, in this article posted; http://drilian.com/2009/02/25/lightning-bolts/ I'm trying to create the line segments seen in the images on the site. I'm confused mainly by this line in the pseudo code; // Offset the midpoint by a random amount along the normal. midPoint += Perpendicular(Normalize(endPoint-startPoint))*RandomFloat(-offsetAmount,offsetAmount); If someone could explain this to me it would be really grateful :).

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• I used a 301 Permanent Redirect to a 3rd party site by mistake! Can I stop the redirection?

  - by Dees

  Oh Noes! I've been parking a domain name for a friend/client of mine on my hosting provider (Dreamhost, FWIW) for a while, and they eventually asked me to redirect their domain to a 3rd party website which is currently featuring some relevant promotional content. Once this period ends, we will probably go ahead and set up a proper website for the domain on my hosting account. I used Dreamhost's "redirect" hosting option in their domain configuration panel, not realizing that it would implement a 301 Permanent redirect, or what the implications were. Now it seems that for any client that has visited the site anytime recently, the 301 redirect is still cached/in effect, although I have changed the domain settings back to regular Dreamhost full site hosting. It seems that the only thing that can be done is to wait out the TTL/cache expiration for the redirect. I have no idea how long that might be, so I'm wondering if there is any good way to cache-bust the redirect or otherwise undo its long-term effects. I put a simple html meta refresh in the domain folder to replace the 301 to keep the intended functionality in place, but I'm still not able to access the domain's other content normally, even via FTP, etc. Isn't there anything I can do? Otherwise, how long does it take for a cached redirect to expire? It's gonna be a bummer if it's really permanent.

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• Application toolkits like QT versus traditional game/multimedia libraries like SFML

  - by Aaron

  I currently intend to use SFML for my next game project. I'll need a substantial GUI though (RPG/strategy-type) so I'll either have to implement my own or try to find an appropriate third party library, which seem to boil down to CEGUI, libRocket, and GWEN. At the same time, I do not anticipate doing that many advanced graphical effects. My game will be 2D and primarily sprite-based with some sprite animations. I've recently discovered that QT applications can have their appearance styled so that they don't have to look like plain OS apps. Given that, I am beginning to consider QT a valid alternative to SFML. I wouldn't have to implement the GUI functionality I'd need, and I may not be taking advantage of SFML's lower-level access anyway. The only drawbacks I can think of immediately are the learning curve for QT and figuring out how to fit game logic inside such a framework after getting used to the input/update/render loop of traditional game libraries. When would an application toolkit like QT be more appropriate for a game than a traditional game or multimedia library like SFML?

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• Problem graphics with ATI Radeon x1270 (RS690M) on Ubuntu 12.04

  - by Giuseppe Della Corte

  I'm Italian and so I apologize for my English! I'm a beginner to Ubuntu and I tried it on my desktop PC and it's fantastic, fast and fun! I decided to try it on my netbook Packard Bell DOT M/A and this is the configuration: AMD Athlon L110 1.2GHz 2GB of RAM ATI Radeon x1270 (RS690M) 150GB Hard Disk I installed Ubuntu 12.04 with Wubi (dualboot Windows 7 + Ubuntu 12.04), because the netbook does not have a DVD player! During the installation everything is OK, after it was installed I see mistakes in the graphical display! I see objects that are seen in different colors and moving (buttons, mouse pointer, text bar ... etc ...) At one point came not to see anything, such as this screenshot: The drivers are open, that is already installed in Ubuntu. Windows 7 video card runs fine, can run well Aero (transparent window effects), I can watch movies in HD and play some games with the Catalyst drivers from AMD. Now I ask a favor, you can help me solve this problem? Is there a fix for this driver or drivers different on the Internet? Thanks for your attention, good bye!

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• generating maps

  - by gardian06

  This is a conglomeration question when answering please specify which part you are addressing. I am looking at creating a maze type game that utilizes elevation. I have a few features I would like to have, but am unsure as to some of the implementation. I have done work doing fileIO maze generation (using a key to read the file, and then generate the level based on that file), but I am unsure how to think about this with elevation in the mix. I think height maps might be a good approach, but don't know how to represent them effectively. for a height map which is more beneficial XML(containing h[u,v] data and key definition), CSV (item1 is key reference, item2 is elevation), or another approach that I have not thought of yet? When it comes to placing the elevation values themselves what kind of deltah values are appropriate to have it noticeable at about a 60degree angle while not really effecting gravity driven physics (assuming some effect while moving up/down hill)? I am thinking of maybe going to procedural generation at some point, but am wondering if it is practical to have a procedurally generated grid (wall squares possibly same dimensions as the open space squares), or if designing to a thin wall open spaces is better? this decision will effect the amount of work need on the graphics end for uniform vs. irregular walls. EDIT: game will be a elevation maze shooter. levels/maps will be mazes with elevation the player has to negotiate. elevations will have effects on "combat" vision, and movement

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• Deferred rendering order?

  - by Nick Wiggill

  There are some effects for which I must do multi-pass rendering. I've got the basics set up (FBO rendering etc.), but I'm trying to get my head around the most suitable setup. Here's what I'm thinking... The framebuffer objects: FBO 1 has a color attachment and a depth attachment. FBO 2 has a color attachment. The render passes: Render g-buffer: normals and depth (used by outline & DoF blur shaders); output to FBO no. 1. Render solid geometry, bold outlines (as in toon shader), and fog; output to FBO no. 2. (can all render via a single fragment shader -- I think.) (optional) DoF blur the scene; output to the default frame buffer OR ELSE render FBO2 directly to default frame buffer. (optional) Mesh wireframes; composite over what's already in the default framebuffer. Does this order seem viable? Any obvious mistakes?

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• Must all AI states be able to react to any event?

  - by Prog

  FSMs implemented with the State design pattern are a common way to design AI agents. I am familiar with the State design pattern and know how to implement it. How is this used in games to design AI agents? Consider a simplified class Monster, representing an AI agent: class Monster { State state; // other fields omitted public void update(){ // called every game-loop cycle state.execute(this); } public void setState(State state){ this.state = state; } // irrelevant stuff omitted } There are several State subclasses implementing execute() differently. So far, classic State pattern. AI agents are subject to environmental effects and other objects communicating with them. For example, an AI agent might tell another AI agent to attack (i.e. agent.attack()). Or a fireball might tell an AI agent to fall down. This means that the agent must have methods such as attack() and fallDown(), or commonly some message receiving mechanism to understand such messages. With an FSM, the current State of the agent should be the one taking care of such method calls - i.e. the agent delegates to the current state upon every event. Is this correct? If correct, how is this done? Are all states obligated by their superclass to implement methods such as attack(), fallDown() etc., so the agent can always delegate to them on almost every event? Or is it done in some other way?

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• Should I build a multi-threaded system that handles events from a game and sorts them, independently, into different threads based on priority?

  - by JonathonG

  Can I build a multi-threaded system that handles events from a game and sorts them, independently, into different threads based on priority, and is it a good idea? Here's more info: I am about to begin work on porting a mid-sized game from Flash/AS3 to Java so that I can continue development with multi-threading capabilities. Here's a small bit of background about the game: The game contains numerous asynchronous activities, such as "world updating" (the game environment is constantly changing based on a set of natural laws and forces), procedural generation of terrain, NPCs, quests, items, etc., and on top of that, the effects of all of the player's interactions with his environment are programmatically calculated in real time, based on a set of constantly changing "stats" and once again, natural laws and forces. All of these things going on at once, in an asynchronous manner, seem to lend themselves to multi-threading very well. My question is: Can I build some kind of central engine that handles the "stacking" of all of these events as they are triggered, and dynamically sorts them out amongst the available threads, and would it be a good idea? As an example: Essentially, every time something happens (IE, a magic missile being generated by a spell, or a bunch of plants need to grow to their next stage), instead of just processing that task right then and adding the new object(s) to a list of managed objects, send a reference to that event to a core "event handler" that throws it into a stack of all other currently queued events, which then sorts them out and orders them according to urgency, splits them between a number of available threads for as-fast-as-possible multithreaded execution.

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• Better solution for boolean mixing?

  - by Ruben Nunez

  Sorry if this question has been asked in the past, but searching Google and here didn't yield relevant results, so here goes. I'm working on a fragment shader that implements both conditional/boolean diffuse and bump mapping (that is to say, you don't need a diffuse texture or a normals texture, and if they're not present, they're simply changed to default values). My current solution is to use a uniform float to say "mix amount". For example, computing the diffuse texel works as: // Compute diffuse amount scaled by vCol // If no texture is present (mDif = 0.0), then DiffuseTexel = vCol // kT[0] is the diffuse texture // vTex is the texture co-ordinates // mDif is the uniform float containing the mix amount (either 0.0 or 1.0) vec4 DiffuseTexel = vCol*mix(vec4(1.0), texture2D(kT[0], vTex), mDif); While that works great and all, I was wondering if there's a better way of doing this, as I will never have any use for in-between values for funky effects. I know that perhaps the best solution is to simply write separate shaders for mDif=0.0 and mDif=1.0, but I'd like a more elegant solution than splicing shaders before compiling or writing multiple shader files and keeping each one updated. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. =)

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• 'Buy the app' landing page implementations: redirect or javascript popup?

  - by benwad

  My site (using Django) has an app that I'm trying to push - I currently have a piece of middleware that redirects the user to a page advertising the app if they're accessing the page on the iPhone, then setting a cookie so that the user isn't bugged by the message every time they visit the site. This works fine, however checking the page with the mobile Googlebot checker shows that the Googlebot gets stuck in the redirect (since it doesn't store cookies) and therefore won't index the proper content. So, I'm trying to think of an alternative implementation that won't hurt the site's Google ranking and won't have any other adverse effects. I've considered a couple of options: Redirect (the current solution), but don't redirect if the user agent matches the Googlebot's UA string. This would be ideal, however I'm not sure if Google like their bot being treated differently from other users, and I'm afraid the site's ranking may be somehow penalised if I go ahead with this. Use a Javascript popup instead of a redirect. This would make sure the Googlebot finds the content it needs, however I envision this approach causing compatibility issues with the myriad mobile devices/browsers out there, and may affect the page load time. How valid are these options? And is there a better option for implementing this feature out there? I've tried researching this topic but surprisingly can't find any reputable-looking blog posts that explore this topic.

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• How do I debug an overheating problem?

  - by Tab

  Hello guys. I have a problem with my Laptop (Dell Inspiron 1564 Core i5 4GB Ram VGA ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 running Ubuntu 10.10 32bit). It shuts down abruptly without even a lag in the application I am working with before shutdown. I think it's overheating problem. Actually the laptop is hot all the time when I am running Ubuntu. When I switch back to windows, even with intense load it won't shutdown or show any problem as long as I keep proper ventilation (when the air openings are blocked it does the same). Actually on Ubuntu i don't usually do things that need much CPU power, usually surfing internet, coding web pages and sometimes playing with python and ruby. I am not enabling desktop effects so no GPU load except the normal GNOME gui. Now as I am writing the Processor load in the panel monitor applet is 0%, Memory 11% by programs, 22% by cache. And i have CPU Frequency monitor for each of the 4 cores set to 1.20 Ghz (the lowest possible value, i am not sure if this applet does really limit CPU usage). Running sensors in terminal gave me temp1: +26.8°C (crit = +100.0°C) temp2: +0.0°C (crit = +100.0°C) hddtemp /dev/sda at the terminal gave me /dev/sda: WDC WD3200BEVT-75ZCT2: 46°C All that fine but the laptop is Really hot i can feel it in the keyboard, mouse pad is painful to touch, and the fan is always spinning. I am also placing 2 small fans running on USB under the laptop right now and the laptop is lifted over the fans so it's well ventilated. When I am running windows it doesn't get that hot except when there is a really big load on the CPU and this is keeping me away from using Linux for everyday tasks. Actually I don't care much for speed as I can deal with low speed it's not going to shutdown abruptly. So please if you can help me and tell me what are the possible causes, where should I start ?

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• Hello PCI Council, are you listening?

  - by David Dorf

  Mention "PCI" to any retailer and you'll instantly see them take a deep breath and start looking for the nearest exit.  Nobody wants to be insecure, but few actually believe that PCI does anything more than focus blame directly on retailers.  I applaud PCI for making retailers more aware of the importance of security, but did you have to make them PAINFULLY aware?  POS vendors aren't immune to this pain either as we have to undergo lengthy third-party audits in addition to the internal secure programming programs.  There's got to be a better way. There's a timely article over at StorefrontBacktalk that discusses the inequity of PCI's rules, and also mentions that the PCI Council is accepting comments until April 15th. As a vendor, my biggest issue with PCI is that they require vendors to disclose the details of any breaches, in effect "ratting out" customers.  I don't think its a vendor's place to do this.  I'd rather have the trust of my customers so we can jointly solve the problem. Mary Ann Davidson, Oracle's Chief Security Officer, has an interesting blog posting on this very topic.  Its a bit of a long read, but I found it very entertaining and thought-provoking.  Here's an excerpt: ...heading up the list of “you must be joking” regulations are recent disturbing developments in the Payment Card Industry (PCI) world. I’d like to give [the] PCI kahunas the benefit of the doubt about their intentions, except that efforts by Oracle among others to make them aware of “unfortunate side effects of your requirements” – which is as tactful I can be for reasons that I believe will become obvious below - have gone, to-date, unanswered and more importantly, unchanged. I encourage you to read the entire posting, Pain Comes Instantly, and then provide feedback to the PCI Council.

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• 3D space game development

  - by user1693061

  I want to develop a 3D game (sci-fi type with spaceships) which can be played on multiplayer mode and by multiplayer i mean around 10 players for start as it will be a personal testing project and mostly educational. I have been searching for some days about the available languages and engines but i am kinda confused. Since i have been learning Java for my 1st year in I.T university and i have pretty good understanding i thought i would go with the Java language and develop that game on an applet so it could be played on a browser. After going through an applet game tutorial i understood how graphics work on an applet. So.. 1st question: Could an applet carry the burden of a 3D game especially on multiplayer? My thinking: It's a space game so the graphics should not be such a big problem since it wont be that crowded with entities apart from ships, planets and some effects. If the java applet is not the way for my project i would't mind "developing it on desktop"(i mean not making it a browser game). 2nd question: Should i use Unity engine for my purpose(space game)? If not name other language/engine combo.

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• How to Effectively Create Bullet Patterns

  - by SoulBeaver

  I'm currently creating a top-down shooter like Touhou. The most important factor of the game is that there are many diverse patterns and ways at which bullets are generated and shot at the player, see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nb5Ohbt1Sg#start=0:60;end=9:53; At the moment, I'm using a class "Pattern" which has a series of steps on moving and shooting. However, I feel this method is quite laborous as I have to create a new Pattern for each attack and perhaps new Bullet classes that will implement a certain behavior. This question received a comment suggesting I should look into BulletML for easy creation and storage of bullets with a specific pattern. It looks decent, but it led me to wonder, what other solutions do you have that I should take into consideration? Update My current design is as follows: An example of an implemented pattern: My GigasPattern first executes a teleport which moves Alice to a certain point (X, Y) on the screen. After this is completed, the pattern starts using the Mover to move the sprite around (whereas teleporting has separate effects and animation). These are of no concern, really, as they are quite simple. The Shooter also creates various Attacks, which are classes again that the Shooter can use to create various patterns of bullets, much like the one in the question I posted. Once the Mover has reached it's destination, both it and the shooter stop and return to an inactive state. The pattern completes, is removed by the AI and a new one gets chosen.

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• Ubuntu won't log in after update

  - by Dave M G

  I just updated Ubuntu about 15 minutes ago on my desktop which is running 12.04. Within the set of updates, there were some kernel upgrades. It didn't say I needed to reboot after the update was finished, but I thought I would anyway. The computer successfully rebooted up to the login screen. However, after entering my password, the screen goes black for a moment, then it comes back to the login screen. I tried the suggestions in this question, but unfortunately they didn't help. In the accepted answer, the questioner vaguely says it was a "Unity problem". I'm using Gnome-classic with full Compiz effects. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Compiz, but that didn't fix anything. So... I can't use my desktop computer until this is fixed. I hope there is some help soon. I've uploaded the output of cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log to Pastebin. A temporary solution of changing to gdm instead of lightdm was found with help in the chat room.

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• What are the challenges of implementing an ERP system?

  When a company decides to rollout an ERP system as part of its core business processes they must consider and provide solutions for the following general challenges. It is important to note that this list is generic and that every ERP system that rolls out is as distinct as the companies that are trying to implement the system. Upper Management Support Reengineering Existing Business Process and Applications Integration of the ERP with other existing departmental applications Implementation Time Implementation Costs Employee Training I just recently read an article by Mano Billi called “What are the major challenges in implementing ERP? “ were he basically outlines the common challenges to implementing an ERP system within a company. He discusses items like Upper management support, altering existing systems, and how ERPs integrate with other independent systems. In addition, he also covers items on selecting a ERP vendor, ERP Consultants, and the effects of an ERP system on employees.  I personally think he did a create job of outlining common issues that can cause an ERP implementation to fail or not be as effective as it potentially could be if the challenges are not taken in to account appropriately.

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• Sprite sorting issues

  - by TheBroodian

  I apologize for the vague title, I'm not sure how else to phrase this problem. I am using tIDE to assist me in my game's world development. To give a dynamic effect to map layers within tIDE, it has events that can be wired up to draw sprites before or after the draw of layers, to create foreground or background effects during runtime. This all works fine and well, however, the only way that I understand that this works, is by calling tIDE's internal spritebatch to create this effect. This creates a problem for me, because within tIDE's source code, its spritebatch's call block is set to SpriteSortMode.Deferred, and my characters have particle elements that I would like to draw in front of and behind themselves, via a drawdepth value. I can use a separate instance of spritebatch and call my character's draw method, and set sprite sorting there, but then my character is drawn ontop of all layers in my tIDE map. Which is even worse to me than my particles not being drawn as I want them to be. So, in summary, I want all of my crap to work, but at the moment the only way I can figure to do that is to ghetto rig the spritebatch within my characters' draw methods by calling a spritebatch.End();, then starting a new call to Begin() with SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, doing all of my characters' draw logic, and then calling another spritebatch.End(); followed once again by a new spritebatch.Begin(). Obviously that is pretty undesirable, but I don't know any other feasible alternatives. Anybody got any wisdom they could impart unto me as to how I could handle this?

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• How do you track existing requirements over time?

  - by CaptainAwesomePants

  I'm a software engineer working on a complex, ongoing website. It has a lot of moving parts and a small team of UI designers and business folks adding new features and tweaking old ones. Over the last year or so, we've added hundreds of interesting little edge cases. Planning, implementing, and testing them is not a problem. The problem comes later, when we want to refactor or add another new feature. Nobody remembers half of the old features and edge cases from a year ago. When we want to add a new change, we notice that code does all sorts of things in there, and we're not entirely sure which things are intentional requirements and which are meaningless side effects. Did someone last year request that the login token was supposed to only be valid for 30 minutes, or did some programmers just pick a sensible default? Can we change it? Back when the product was first envisioned, we created some documentation describing how the site worked. Since then we created a few additional documents describing new features, but nobody ever goes back and updates those documents when new features are requested, so the only authoritative documentation is the code itself. But the code provides no justification, no reason for its actions: only the how, never the why. What do other long-running teams do to keep track of what the requirements were and why?

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• 3 column layout with css display table, with first row having multiple rows?

  - by Damainman

  I am working on a new website which: Has 3 columns - Each Column being a cell First column has 3 rows (Logo, Nav, icons) - Has a Div with display: table which wraps arround 3 divs with display:table-row. Other two columns only have 1 row. With the middle column being the content area. However since this is my first time using display:table, I am running into some things that aren't so clear to me. I was trying to avoid floating divs. If I need multiple rows with one cell in each row per column, do I embed each cell in a row or just create each row and not declare cells. I understand that browsers automatically create the missing elements but I want to make sure I do this properly to avoid any side effects that might occur due to the browser automatically creating the missing elements. Edit: I think my brain is just over worked, I guess I can accomplish this by just using 3 divs in the first column instead of using a nested table div with the rows. This just popped into my head.

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