GNOME 2.20 released

...and it looks like I will be sticking with GNOME for another 6 months after all!

Even the most annoying thing about Epiphany seems to be fixed - the address bar. Also I no longer have to sync my Tomboy notes with an automated SVN commit. I'm close to forgiving it for being written in C#...

Do read!

Links round-up

The oldest post in my post cache that may be applicable...

I don't have time to blog about things in general for now, so I'll present you with a list of links I've gathered on my travels through the web...

Make mailto: links open Gmail (Ubuntu):
www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/set-gmail-as-default-mail-client-in-ubuntu/

TortoiseSVN-like script for Nautilus (GNOME):
jasonfield.com/freebies/

A helpful article from Microsoft:
support.microsoft.com/kb/247804

A small computer running Xubuntu now on sale (did I already blog about this?):
www.linutop.com/

Flip, a novel programming language:
www.daimi.au.dk/~eriksoe/Flip/

Why Linux drives don't need defragmenting:
geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/index.php/2006/08/17/why_doesn_t_linux_need_defragmenting

Free web hosting:
www.110mb.com/

Free file hosting:
hostfile.org/

My Starred Slashdot articles:

Ubuntu Market Share:
linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/11/1452257

GPLv3 & Microsoft:
linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/06/1333257
slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/0030227

Written articles vs blog posts:
slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/09/2111255

Using the mouse in UIs:
hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/09/1232230

Spammers vs CAPTCHAs:
it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/09/0110203

OpenMoko phone on sale:
developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/09/0049249

The world's first programmable robot?
hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/07/1924248

I think so, this time:
linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/06/2119243

History of the CD:
slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/04/2230245

C and C++

I think it is quite true to an extent...
A conjecture regarding C (and C++ too, although less so)...

Nice blog too, it's going onto my reading list :)

My favourite way to make an application at the moment is to create low-level (and possibly all platform-specific code) in C/C++, and then handle logic in Lua. It allows for a lot of flexibility, and faster development time. Lua should be better known :)

Making Scite the default editor in GNOME (Ubuntu)

For too long I was fighting with gedit, the default text editor in Ubuntu. While it is not too bad, Scite is far more powerful, and much better.

To install Scite, you can type the following in Terminal:

sudo aptitude install scite

I had the option of changing the editor associated with each of the file types in Nautilus (which is what I did on my desktop), but I was sure there must be a better way. I found it...

sudo aptitude install scite
cd ~/.local/share/applications
echo -e "[Default Applications]\ntext/plain=scite.desktop" >defaults.list
killall nautilus

Works a treat. Also, here is my Scite settings file:

line.margin.visible=1
default.file.ext=.lua
open.dialog.in.file.directory=1
check.if.already.open=1

Tip: A per-folder settings file can be created. For example, I have created a 'SciTE.properties' file in the gloox src folder, so Scite will automatically use the correct indentation for gloox, and insert spaces when I use the tab key.

Update: I found later that this only tells scite to open plain text files. If you are dealing with code (as I am) add the following lines too:


text/x-csrc=scite.desktop
text/x-c++src=scite.desktop
text/x-chdr=scite.desktop


If you want to add other file types, find the MIME type by right-clicking on a file and selecting 'Properties', the MIME type you need to know is listed there.

Versioning FIle System

I haven't tried it, but the idea is a good one. Every time you create, modify, or delete a file, Ext3Cow records the changed part of the file in a different place on the disk, preserving the old data that was in the file.

Using this system it is possible to find out what any file was like, at any given point in time. There is even a file manager that supports browsing ext3cow volumes.

There are many applications for this kind of file system, especially in places where revision control tools (CVS, SVN...) will not suffice.