Wednesday, June 27, 2007

How to completely Hide Ubuntu Desktop panels

Ever wondered about hiding desktop panels for the Gnome desktop environment?
Sure you are, but you surely found disappointing that the panels don't stay completely hidden.
Let me explain: using the Windows desktop I use to keep the task-bar hidden and the only thing you can see when it's hidden is a very thin strip (about 2 pixels).
The Gnome panels instead stay only partially hidden (a strip about 6 pixels wide remains visible).
This Ubuntu forum topic explains how to change this (very annoying) setting, by using the powerful Gnome configuration editor (gconf-editor).

Friday, June 22, 2007

Full-Screen your 2.44 Blender backport

In my last post I explained how to get a 2.44 Blender version working on a Ubuntu Feisty (or derived) distro.
One thing you can loose by installing Blender that way is the "Blender (full-screen)" option in your Ubuntu Application menu.
Well, isn't exact that you loose this menu entry; the entry is at its own place, but it simply doesn't work... but, don't worry, we are going to fix it!
1. Right-click the Application menu
2. Select "Edit Menus"
3. Browse the resulting list to the "Blender (full-screen)" voice
4. Right-click it
5. Select "Properties"
6. In the "command-line" box change from "blender" to "blender -W" (note that "W" is uppercase)
7. Done!

See you soon

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

How to get Blender 2.44 working on ubuntu 7.04

Hi folks!
My current Ubuntu system is an UbuntuStudio 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) and it cames with Blender 2.43 installed... "But I want the 2.44 one!", so I searched for a .deb package, maybe optimized for my DualCore... nothing worth enough to risk corrupting my clean, "synaptic-only" installation.
So I came to this compromise: enable the backports of Gutsy Gibbon (the future Ubuntu 7.10), which contain Blender 2.44, and install it by simply clicking on "Mark for upgrade" in my Synaptic window.

But lets procede with order:
1. Go to "System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager"
2. Now: "Settings > Repositories"
3. Select the "Updates" tab
4. Check "Unsupported updates (feisty-backports)"
5. "Close"
6. Now reload the software list by clicking the "Reload" button
7. Look for the "blender" package: it's shown as upgradable (you know the beautiful little star?)
8. Click and select "Mark for upgrade"
9. Apply changes
10. ... Done!

I obtained my new Blender, but still I miss optimized builds... maybe one of these days I will build them on my own.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Delirante e meraviglioso spot della AXE.
Non potevo non postarlo:

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Ragazzi, non so voi ma a me questo video piace veramente tanto:

(YouTube link)
Certo una versiona a più alta risoluzione l'avrei gradita.

Friday, June 15, 2007

The new Skype for Linux

A new version for Skype is available for being installed in your distribution.
It's Skype 1.4 beta and my first estimation of it is that we are going to have a "real" Skype client for Linux.
It performs quite well (just... too much memory dudes) and has a completely revised GUI (that integrates very well into my Gnome theme).
Some little errors (sometimes it seems my configuration resets), but, hey folks! It's a beta!
I think Skype developers took the right direction.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Architecture of a GNU/Linux system

If you ever wondered (as I do) having a "bird-view" of the GNU/Linux architecture, then this article at DeveloperWorks will satisfy you (as it did to me).

(via ossblog)

Monday, June 11, 2007

OS X Leopard new features

Qui su PcWorld e qui sul sito della Apple le maggiori novità che verranno introdotte dal nuovo Mac OS X (il 10.5 per la precisione).
Rispecchiano quanto detto da Jobs alla keynote del WWDC e lasciano un grande sospeso: Leopard userà di default il filesystem ZFS?
Non so voi che ne pensate ma questo leopardo mi piace un casino: pensate solo agli "stacks" (li potete vedere nel "Watch the demo" di questa pagina).
Tralasciando poi tutte le altre novità.
Splendido!
---
Aggiornamento:
Sembra che ZFS non sarà il file system di defaut di Leopard (ruolo che spetterà invece a HFS+).

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Elephant's dream for Xbox

Who said that Microsoft hates open-source?
They placed on microsoft.com download pages the blender-realized elephant's dream video clip, making it suitable to be viewed into an Xbox:
"This clip simultaneously demonstrates the high quality and efficient compression our current released version of the VC-1 codec can provide, and the high performance video decoding in the Xbox 360 Spring Update. The file will also play back in Windows Media Player 11 on powerful XP and Vista systems."
This is the link: "link".

Saturday, June 9, 2007

I was looking at the blogs suggested by Freelanceswitch (blogs I mentioned in my previous post).
What have I found? Burnt VFX is a VFX blog which acts as a blog and as a showcase for the Belgian artist David Heijl.
I like his blog but I can't resist to post a defect of these blog: the Google ads looks contrasting the design and the colors of the page.
I know that the ads can be personalized, so, David, why don't replicate the color scheme of the blog, purple on white (which I like very much)? Or, if you want to distinguish the ads from the rest of the page, why not using gray on white?
I admit it: I love Freelaceswitch.
Their last effort has been compiling a very long list of blogs about freelancing (they also have categorized them, what a nice guys!).
These blogs are for the larger part "new voices and perspectives in the world of freelancing" they say. And sure I can't disagree with them: I think the result is a fresh and completely new window opened atop the "obscure art" of freelancing and a stimulating starting point for, maybe, "federating" or tracking some of that blogs in/from a common place.

Mmmmmh ... I think I'll love the "Illustration" category above the others ...

Friday, June 8, 2007

iGoogle tips'n'tricks

How to make Google suggests recommended content based on your web-searches:
1. Switch your Google web history to "recording mode"
2. Add a new tab to your iGoogle page
3. Choose for the new tab the label "Recommendations"
4. Check the "I'm feeling lucky. Automatically add stuff based on the tab name." radio button
5. The newly created tab will host videos, searches, gadgets, pages and news based on your web-searches

That's all folks

P.S. To delete your web history records go to "https://www.google.com/accounts/EditServices" and select "Delete Web History"

Thursday, June 7, 2007

The morning ritual

When I saw this post at freelanceswitch.com (a very good community that I follow by using their feed) I thought: "I knew I was right!".
The good news is that, although the post speaks about morning ritual for writers, I found it suits very well even for (web-) designers, students (!) and developers (!!).

(And now my milk-and-coffee...)

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

I was talking about Google calendar in my previous post.
Luca (a friend of mine) realized a calendar for scheduling schoolwork meetings.

Very good job Luca!

Very interesting web services

Below my preferred web applications at this moment:

  • Google reader : powerful feeds aggregator (it lacks in searching...)
  • iGoogle : personalized home-page which I extended with several widgets:
    • Google calendar (see below) widget
    • ANSA news widget
    • Punto Informatico widget
    • Tree frog widget
    • I also customized the theme and now it displays different backgrounds according to the weather in my city
  • Google calendar: powerful calendar and agenda, with SMS notifications (free!)
  • Last.fm: listen to your music and look for new artists
Now I have a blog ("Hope you're jocking pal!" - "No, I'm not...").
I'll use this blog to post (both in English and in Italian) some thoughts of mines and something about my main concerns (you will learn which these concerns are by reading my posts, of course).

Now, lets tango...