Colin Godsey » Linux

I Hate Sockets… and HTTP

Colin Godsey — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:08:35 +0000

TCP/IP programming has been a really ‘fun’ experience so far in my journey to create a JavaScript web server. Starting with sockets all the way to HTTP, I have succeeded in destroying my confidence in my ability to understand computers. In case any of you suffer from this same affliction dealing with sockets, here is a little tip that may help you get to bug #341: Content-Length Means Bytes, Not Characters.

Redis: Persistent Memory Key-Value Store

Colin Godsey — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:02:22 +0000

Just today I was challenged with a project that will require value caching in a PHP/MySQL cluster environment. This project will have to deal with loads of up to 500 requests per second, most of which will involve writes. When working on a small scale it is easy to forget the latency issues associated with all engines in MySQL. This project will require a massive read/write caching system that will sit between PHP and MySQL and will require full data persistence. I found a valuable article that shows some of the timing differences of the popular storage systems under load. Redis seems to be the real winner here. With write-only data persistence (write to disk), this storage engine still comes out on top! This is truly the best system if you are caching write calls to MySQL. This way, most of the data will survive in case of a crash. Persistence can be increased even further by using another fully redundant Redis server. This is a must have for high-load write caching.

Logos Engine – HDR Video

Colin Godsey — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:56:45 +0000

This video showcases some new features of the deferred rendering system in my Logos Engine including HDR, auto-exposure, edge detect anti-aliasing, shadow mapping and more. Check the page for more info.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eclipse and Zend PDT Icons for Ubuntu/Linux

Colin Godsey — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:52:28 +0000

I use Eclipse for all sorts of stuff including Zend PDT, Android SDK and C++. I like to keep my desktop looking well organized and looking professional. I never liked the default Eclipse icon that came with the Linux installs, so I made my own for Eclipse and Zend PDT icons with transparency that look snazzy with blending in GNOME panels or Avant Window Manager.

Coming Soon… Structure & T2-Engine

Colin Godsey — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:52:08 +0000

Hey guys, keep tuned for updates on CRG Studios’ upcoming simulator: Structure. It is past concept and will soon be impacting your world. The engine this will be using will be my open source T2 Engine. This game will be cross-platform, hardware enabled and terribly awesome.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Amarok 2 Under Windows

Colin Godsey — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:59:50 +0000

I know, I know. Some would say it’s gross or perverse, but in reality it is undeniably awesome. You can install Amarok 2 under Windows using The KDE on Windows Project. I’ve always been a fan of Amarok and have found Winamp and other various Windows based music players just don’t do it as well as Amarok. The only difficulty I had installed this was finding the native Amarok package in the KDE4W installer. I had to pick version 2.2.1 instead of the head stable release to find a prebuilt and working package for Amarok but alas I have it working!

Resolving Windows Host Names (NetBIOS, Samba, WINS) in Linux

Colin Godsey — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:02:08 +0000

I’ve always wished I could just use my Windows computers name when im trying to VNC in or trying to reference it’s network address for other reasons when connecting in from my Ubuntu computer, like it works in Windows. I’ve been spoiled by the fact that I can usually just type ‘ping ComputerName’ from my windows computer instead of having to go look up the ip and ping it that way from my Linux machine. So, how do I go about recreating that in Linux? Pretty easy actually. You need to have Samba and its libraries installed, which they are usually are by default. Then all you have to do is edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and add the word wins to the end of the hosts list. That should be it! You should be able to go to terminal and ping all the Windows computers on your network by their WINS name.

# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc-reference’ and `info’ packages installed, try:
# `info libc “Name Service Switch”‘ for information about this file.

passwd:         compat
group:          compat
shadow:         compat

hosts:          files dns mdns4 wins
networks:       files

protocols:      db files
services:       db files
ethers:         db files
rpc:            db files

netgroup:       nis

New Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, 2 Days!

Colin Godsey — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:32:49 +0000

Hurray! This joyous occasion may not affect the majority of PC users, but it’s going to be a great day for some people! The new release of Ubuntu looks to sport many new software updates leading to improved usability and a new slew of features. GNOME 2.22.1 will now be supported which includes a new version of Nautilus, the native Ubuntu file browser. There will also be a new audio engine that allows advanced channel mixing and even an option to set individual volumes for the specific applications. There will be new native CD and DVD burning options including ISO burning out of box. I’ll be sitting at the edge of my seat until this release, hope you all are too!

Google Phone Android SDK On Ubuntu

Colin Godsey — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:50:43 +0000

I just finished getting the Android SDK installed and running (with emulator) for the open source Google Phone dubbed Android. The SDK comes with a nice plugin for the open source Java IDE, Eclipse. After battling a little with the my installed Java SDKs, I was able to get the emulator and compiler working beautifully. The GUI in the emulator is already outdated and will be replaced by a different one in the actual release.

It is quite nice to have all this running on my Ubuntu laptop, using an open source OS, with an open source language, with an open source IDE, for an open source phone. Google is hosting a competition for new applications developed with this SDK. I will of course be taking a whack at it, hopefully getting somewhere. Keep an eye out for updates on my wins and losses with this adventure.

XPenguin Infestation

Colin Godsey — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:34:43 +0000

I’d also like to note to all the Linux users out there that XPenguins is sweet. If you use an advanced window manager with window snapping supported, then they really like all those clean edges. These guys will climb your windows and hang around on your desktop. You can even kill them with windows!