I just wanted to know if there was any of them here. I recall seeing someone using a linux box.
Anyway, I just wanted to give praise to the best Os around and see if anyone has any suggestions on cool ass shit to do in linux.
Currently, I have been using linux for a little over a month. I am also dual booting Xp and Ubuntu. I haven’t gone completely linux because I’m not great on it yet. I just installed VirtualBox and am running my CS3 suite from it (one less thing to use my XP partition for).
Linux geek here. I don’t even have a windows box running at home anymore (forced to use it at work).
I’ve been running Ubuntu since it’s first release, before that I was a Gentoo guy for years (one of the few people to can actually claim to have performed a stage 1 install. Never again). I started playing with linux in High School on Slackware (probably around 10-12 years ago).
What sort of “cool things” are you looking to do? If you (or anyone really) has any questions, linux related or computer in general (I’m a software engineer and all around geek) just let me know.
It just seems like linux has made me want to learn a lot more. Probably something to do with the fact that most of the software is free.
I’m looking into web development now, which I’ve wanted to do for a long time (graphic design major) and now I have the means.
Anyway, what would you guys say is the best CSS editor? I have both Bluefish and Quanta. Which of those would be best for a beginner?
Adarqui, I’m assuming you got a girlfriend? Or a sweet job involving the knowhow you’ve gathered?
m0dd3r, I’ll take you up on that offer. I’m not really sure though; well since the OP I have decided to learn web development.
I also want an in depth knowledge of C++ but seeing as I don’t want to miss any steps, I feel like I have a bit of time before I can get there. So just basic suggestions of things that I should be looking into.
Also, what would someone do if they wanted to stabilize their linux kernel?
[quote]meangenes wrote:
Anyway, what would you guys say is the best CSS editor? I have both Bluefish and Quanta. Which of those would be best for a beginner?[/quote]
There is so much open source and good info out there these days that anyone with a little bit of initiative can learn it.
One thing I am going to do is set up a SAMBA server so that I can access personal MS files from anywhere in the world from online. The cool thing is that I will still be able to have access to a powerful command line for coding and scripting purposes – which comes in handy for my job.
One other great learning tool is Knoppix. This is a DVD bootable version of Linux that doesn’t require a separate partition. Basically, it is loaded to main memory and accessed in the cache, etc. This is pretty cool because it gives you control over the machine. This is a good thing to bring when shopping for a computer because you can find out all the specs and do a check of the devices, ect. Plus, when the sales person sees you doing this he’ll pretty much leave you alone and wont try to sell you anything unnecessary when he realizes you aren’t a sucker.
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Plus, when the sales person sees you doing this he’ll pretty much leave you alone and wont try to sell you anything unnecessary when he realizes you aren’t a sucker.[/quote]
Or try to tell you that that isn’t good for the computer.
I was going to install a distro on my thumb drive. Same concept.
I was going to install DSL (Damn Small Linux) because it only need 256mb to run. Anyone have any other distros they would run on thumb drive?
For CSS and web development I’ve used bluefish, quanta, caffeine, and a plethora of others. My personal preference is to use some of the web development packages for eclipse (eclipse.org), but that’s because I do all sorts of other development as well, so using a full on IDE is more convenient. If you’re already involve in graphic design, learning css and web technologies would be a great career move. Just do yourself (and any developers you might ever work with) and learn how web design differs from standard graphic design. The concepts involved in laying out something to look at and laying out something to interact with (i.e. a web page) are different. Sorry, this is just a personal pet peeve of mine. Lots of web designers come up with extremely artistic designs for pages but totally disregard the idea of functionality.
As far as gaining an “in-depth knowledge of C++” goes, good luck. Do you have any prior programming knowledge? If not, I’d recommend you start with a higher level language to learn the basic foundations of programming. Maybe start with some simple web scripting stuff, javascript, ruby on rails, php or something like that. That will introduce you to the concepts of programming without having to worry about all the complexities involved in low level languages. Once you get the basic idea of things, move on to a more complete programming language like java or python. Once you get familiar with that, then try tackling a project in C/C++.
It’s an incredibly powerful language, but it’s also extremely complex. There are a lot of concepts that make learning to code in C++ a much more involved process (memory management being the biggest). The learning curve is pretty sharp, and it makes it a lot tougher to get going when you need to learn the basic concepts of programming, plus the eccentricities and complexities of a language like C++ all at the same time. You can learn to code fairly proficiently in higher level languages, live java, without having to really understand the low level workings of a computer and operating system. This is not the case with C/C++.
[quote]m0dd3r wrote:
There are a lot of concepts that make learning to code in C++ a much more involved process (memory management being the biggest). [/quote]
Word! Java is much better with memory – its practically built in.
I just started using ubuntu at the end of winter break. I was running XP before that, but it got really slow and I was gonna have to reformat anyway, so I just switched over. I’m really enjoying it, especially with all the free software, but I definitely have a lot to learn. Right now I’m trying to get used to using Lyx document processor.
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
m0dd3r wrote:
There are a lot of concepts that make learning to code in C++ a much more involved process (memory management being the biggest).
Word! Java is much better with memory – its practically built in.
[/quote]
I don’t know if I’d say better, but it’s certainly a lot nicer not having to handle it yourself.
[quote]
I still think ANSI C is worth knowing though.[/quote]
Oh absolutely, especially if you’re planning on being a programmer as a job/career. When I was at URI (graduated '04, BSCS) we did almost all java in our programming classes. It made learning the basics a lot easier not having to worry about pointers, memory leaks, pass by value vs. pass by reference, etc… Then, once I had a good handle on the basics of programming, computers, and operating systems, picking up C/C++ was fairly easy.
However, seeing as the OP is a graphic designer, and I assume has little or no programming knowledge, I think jumping in to learn C++ right off the bat would be an unnecessarily difficult challenge. Especially considering this seems to be for personal interest’s sake and not a career move. There’s really not much need to know a low level language like that unless you want to get into kernel hacking (which is fun, don’t get me wrong), hardware driver development, or a few other areas that need the extra control and performance.
[quote]EmileZola wrote:
Makes me wonder why Java apps take so much ram…Just look at the rams consumption of Eclipse, limewire or other popular programs written in Java.
[/quote]
It doesn’t mean coders have made use of the built in memory management. It just means it is there for people with knowledge of it.
Besides, Java applications that go over the wire are still dependent on the network and will only work as fast as data can be transmitted. Bottlenecks can also caused by the processes running on your PC – some don’t like to compete for CPU.
