tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9824957155123380422024-03-13T04:47:18.359+02:00HeresylabsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-68285815866345024052010-02-06T15:08:00.001+02:002011-01-22T23:03:25.507+02:00Chaos Space Marines infantryIn Codex Chaos Space Marines we have too few infantry choices. I mean not cult troops but plain Chaos Marines. We have Elites, who are the same troops with Infiltrate and 5 of them can take cool but expensive weapons, Possessed units who are not stable enough to use them against tough opponent, and plain Marines. And that's all.<br />
<br />
As for me Chaos Space Marines, who are 10 000 years participating in eternal war, must have much more options. Few ideas I have:<br />
<br />
<b>Veterans</b> are those who are killing for their Gods for 10.000 years already. There should be list of veteran skills and possibility to choose few of them. Also they have access to artificer weapons and armor (similar to loyal marines) and Terminator armor. All of them can have special weapons, because in 10.000 years they formed specialized groups. 2 Attacks in profile, because they are much more skilled than simple Marines. Also, in current Codex Chosen are able to buy power weapons, but it will cost 33 points for model, while you can buy Terminator for 30. So to make this option viable - power weapon cost should be lower (there is no point in rising Terminator cost, because it's already low in Loyal Codex, and rising it for Chaos will make Terminators not viable option).<br />
<br />
<b>Possessed Marines</b>. In armies who are worshiping more than 2 Gods mutations are more common. If your army includes worshipers of more than 2 Gods (including Marks and Icons of Gods or cult troops) you must spread mutations on your squads. I am not sure what is the best way to do it, not all mutations are good one and of course depending on squad size there are different possibilities to have mutants.<br />
<br />
<b>Beggar Marines</b> once proud and noble they lost everything they had. Being still powerful Space Marines and very useful on the battlefield they lost all their supply factories and artificers. Their armor breached and broken in many places, they have few bolter rounds and lost all other weapons. Now they are fighting for trophies and ammunition, serving to anyone who will offer them more than others.<br />
<ul><li>Cost about 10 points</li>
<li>Ld value is 7, 8 for Champion.</li>
<li><i>4+ power armor</i>. Some parts of armor are lost, some are no longer functional, and some are just taken by someone stronger.</li>
<li><i>Wargear</i>. Chainsword and Bolt Pistol. They are saving bolter rounds as treasure, not wasting more than one shot for single enemy.</li>
<li><i>Must have Champion</i>. Without strong leader they will fight each other or just will separate in groups too small to operate as combat unit. If Champion is killed - another one must be chosen on his place. Roll a dice, on result 5+ another Champion is selected, on 1-4 two of Marines will fight each other and one of them will die, remove him as casualty.</li>
<li><i>Marauders</i>. Beggar squads cannot have any special weapons until they'll salvage it from enemies. If Beggar Marines won the round they can try to take enemy weapons if they are fighting another Marines or Human race. They can take any ranged weapon or simple power weapons (but not Terminator's power weapon, because it's using more powerful energy sources). Roll a dice for each ranged weapon that looks useful to you (including bolters, meltaguns, plasmaguns, flamers, and heavy weapons), and on 4+ Beggar Marines can take it. Also there are some more valuable weapons, if you rolled 1 for Special Weapon or Heavy Weapon - marines are fighting for it and one of them receives wound and must immediately take armor save. You must write the list of weapons so your opponent will see it.</li>
<li><i>Marks</i>. Beggar Marines can use only Mark of Chaos Undivided for 10 points and Mark of Khorne for 30 points, because of nature of other Gods their worshipers will not make good Beggar Marines.</li>
</ul><br />
That's all for now. Later I will tell more ideas I have and some experience of using those units I suggested here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-3701173616056027962010-02-01T18:20:00.003+02:002010-02-01T18:20:20.648+02:00How do you store your bits?<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
I am using box from Chaos Space Marines Battleforce to store most of my bits.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSIoLv9t3gRoDX-k8ME06uDJS_sgdPOL7S6wEiLa2eLbASRynBIzYHi9vkuRlVJ-xrGVRL3mvi3kkBWz0I85OSctsg5XHJEKR3YkD5cS3SFvozeoXM7I4GO8WZi0QX-esJF0S2IqI_UZj/s1600-h/dsc_0943-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSIoLv9t3gRoDX-k8ME06uDJS_sgdPOL7S6wEiLa2eLbASRynBIzYHi9vkuRlVJ-xrGVRL3mvi3kkBWz0I85OSctsg5XHJEKR3YkD5cS3SFvozeoXM7I4GO8WZi0QX-esJF0S2IqI_UZj/s320/dsc_0943-1.jpg" /></a></div>And then every type of bits is packed in individual package and grouped by categories.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWV0Dhf5_Sf_AChd4PtJrTQwyrGhgMZdA9Ssh7VCFolr8yc9lK-DPiydxcNswo0rJlqO_Ioxnb9g8doGu1fYruD7Lakn2kJT2XT1BKaNGG8KnAzOeyBOH6-sNTJUkdj03PUCLE8hS1oXO/s1600-h/dsc_0945-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWV0Dhf5_Sf_AChd4PtJrTQwyrGhgMZdA9Ssh7VCFolr8yc9lK-DPiydxcNswo0rJlqO_Ioxnb9g8doGu1fYruD7Lakn2kJT2XT1BKaNGG8KnAzOeyBOH6-sNTJUkdj03PUCLE8hS1oXO/s320/dsc_0945-1.jpg" /></a></div>It saves my time to search bits I need and allows me to see all available options at once.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-88816998753939308382010-01-26T13:23:00.001+02:002010-01-26T13:24:12.369+02:00Chaos Daemon Weapons<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
As I mentioned before, <a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Codex:_Chaos_Space_Marines_(3rd_Edition,_2nd_Codex)">Codex Chaos Space Marines 2002</a> is much more logical and looks better fluff-wise than current <a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Codex:_Chaos_Space_Marines_(4th_Edition)">Codex Chaos Space Marines 2007</a>. And now another thing I like more in older Codex - Daemon Weapons. I'll quote small block of description of Daemon Weapons in both Codexes to show you what I mean.<br />
<br />
<b>Chaos Space Marines 2002</b><br />
On page 13 of old Codex there is paragraph "Mastery":<br />
<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><blockquote>In any player turn that the bearer inflicts at least one casualty on the enemy with Daemon weapon, the Daemon may gain enough strength to resist it's owner. This battle of will can be draining or even fatal for the wielder. Make a Leadership test at the end of the turn. If the test is failed the wielder suffers a "Perils of the Warp" attack...<br />
</blockquote></span><br />
<b>Chaos Space Marines 2007</b><br />
Similar description from Codex 2007, on page 93:<br />
<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><blockquote>Adds an extra D6 Attacks in close combat. Roll the dice every time the model is about to attack. If the result is 1, the bound Daemon within the weapon rebels - the model may not make any attacks in this round and suffers one wound with no armour saves allowed.<br />
</blockquote></span><br />
In version 2007 it looks like Daemon does not want to fight, does not want to spill the blood. It's strange behavior for the Chaos Daemon, don't you think so? While in 2002 version everything looks fine, Daemon gains his strength from butchering and drinking the blood.<br />
<br />
I want to suggest to create some home rule that will improve fluff part of Daemon weapons for Codex 2007. While it is easier to pass Leadership test than get 1 on D6 I will not suggest to use 2002 version right away. There must be better options.<br />
<br />
<b>My first suggestion</b> is to make 1 on Daemon weapon rolls work as +1 Attack, but to pass Leadership test at the end of the turn, but modify Leadership of wielder by -1 per each wound Daemon weapon inflicted. As a result Khornate Lord after inflicting 7 wounds will have to pass Leadership test against Ld 3. What do you think about it?<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-66774908785256369892010-01-25T13:39:00.000+02:002010-01-25T13:39:23.813+02:00The problem of Qt Jambi<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
I like desktop UI development. Especially I like architecture of Swing, but not so long ago I felt the power of Qt, thanx to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_Jambi">Qt Jambi</a>. Now I know that while Qt have some architecture problems it has superior Graphics, more usable widgets, and saves a lot of time on borders and pixels manipulations thanx to it's advanced widgets.<br />
<br />
But Nokia decided to stop supporting Qt Jambi, and gave it away to "community". While there are some smart guys on Qt Jambi mailing lists - it is not community yet. And of course I thought about ways to help Jambi survive.<br />
<br />
The problem is, I am Java developer, and Jambi was created for Java developers. Most of people on Jambi mailing list are Java developers. It is not very popular among C++ developers because they will not be able to use the result of their work. While Jambi generator is written in C++, and to be able to update Jambi according to Qt changes you should know C++.<br />
<br />
Ok, let's assume I am learning C++, to help Qt Jambi to write Java apps using Qt. Well, not Qt itself but bindings of Qt to Java. Do you see the problem? Why should I use Jambi if I already know C++ and I can use Qt itself, without bindings and additional abstraction levels. Then, why should I help Jambi if I will not use it?...<br />
<br />
As for me Jambi-like project will not survive without support of some company, and stopping Jambi support Trolltech/Nokia almost killed the project. Now it most likely some parts of Jambi will be salvaged, for example it's extremely cool generator. Maybe in some time I will learn C++ a bit better and will dive a bit inside of Generator sources, and maybe even write something similar in Java if I'll have nothing better to do...<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-7391258968480007012010-01-25T13:14:00.002+02:002010-01-25T13:15:39.663+02:00Chaos Space Marines Assembly Line<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
It takes rather long time to prepare and assemble full model, especially when you try to make it good one. When some interesting idea comes into your mind it takes you few minutes to clean legs, minute to glue it onto base, minute to glue body, minute to search for hands/head/shoulders, another 5 minutes to clean those parts, and another minute to clean glued body. So about 15 already wasted, your awesome idea had a good chance to flee away.<br />
<br />
Finally I found solution that works for me. I am preparing the most usable parts long before idea comes. Chaos Space Marines have 4 types of legs and 8 or 9 types of bodies. It is possible to prepare 12 legs, glue 12 bodies and put everything on the shelf. Now you can start modeling almost instantly, and it saves a lot of fun because boring process of cleaning legs and putting body together does not distracts you from the main idea.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZX3HBzT_dpO4rSEd7MMjpdHKVsL5ySN35R9zMlek1mmzAfZr8zfFttwgEBf7IKM-N77oyCRgm0gubCxUj79SQvKRjBIyVLmsoWWpgd4NlMPyKBR10pCCPjNdd9tsbwIHLxJ5rJ7Cs_S2/s1600-h/dsc_0942-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZX3HBzT_dpO4rSEd7MMjpdHKVsL5ySN35R9zMlek1mmzAfZr8zfFttwgEBf7IKM-N77oyCRgm0gubCxUj79SQvKRjBIyVLmsoWWpgd4NlMPyKBR10pCCPjNdd9tsbwIHLxJ5rJ7Cs_S2/s400/dsc_0942-1.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
</div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-33679806508876674672010-01-22T17:57:00.000+02:002010-01-22T17:57:56.930+02:00Codex Chaos Space Marines: Marks of the Dark Gods<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Intro</b><br />
I don't like <a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Codex:_Chaos_Space_Marines_(4th_Edition)">current Codex Chaos Space Marines</a>, for many-many reasons. One of them - there are too many places where I can't see any logic. Because of this I bought <a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Codex:_Chaos_Space_Marines_(3rd_Edition,_2nd_Codex)">older Codex, written by Andy Chambers, Graham McNeill and others</a>. And that Codex is totally awesome! It's a bit old to play with it though, but there are many things I like. Marks of the Dark Gods for example.<br />
<br />
<b>Current Codex, 4th edition</b><br />
In <a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Codex:_Chaos_Space_Marines_(4th_Edition)">current Codex</a>, released in 2007, Marks can be used everywhere and by everyone. And as for me it's breaking fluff by all means possible. For example, you can summon pack of Daemonettes without scatter on Mark of Khorne, or put your Sorcerer with Mark of Tzeench with 9 Berzerkers into Land Raider. How powerful and cruel Chaos Lord can allow this to happen? How is it possible when Dark Gods are watching you? I don't know, but it seems to me that Codex' author wanted to play Orks too much, so he made ones, using Chaos kits. But let's return to how Mark works. Summoned Daemons and Terminators can arrive on Mark without scattering, and also Mark somehow is visible from the transport vehicles, and adds some abilities to their bearers. That's it. No more restrictions, no more options, no more advantages.<br />
<br />
<b>Codex Chaos Space Marines 2002</b><br />
<p>In <a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Codex:_Chaos_Space_Marines_(3rd_Edition,_2nd_Codex)">this older Codex</a> everything looks logical and close to perfect, almost like it really would be in Eye of Terror. Do you know that Khorne and Slaanesh are mortal enemies, like Tzeench and Nurgle? So, if your army's leader have Mark of one of four Gods - your army cannot contain any units, dedicated to God's mortal enemy. Of course it can't, just because your leader will kill all those bastards in the name of His favored God!</p><p>Next feature, Daemons can be summoned only onto Mark of their God or onto Chaos Undivided Mark. In Codex 2007 I always wondered why my Daemonettes would not attack unit of Berzerkers with Icon that summoned them, or why should they come at all? In Codex 2002 everything is just fine, like it should really be.</p><p>And my favorite, Daemon Icon. It's powerful Daemon binding artifact, and single Daemons unit can be nominated as target for this Mark. Then, when time comes, you can free those Daemons without rolling reserves or scatter, they're just coming out at the start of your turn. I like both how it works on the battlefield and how it sounds from the fluff point of view. But where did Chaos Marines lost it in 5 years from 2002 to 2007?...</p><br />
<b>Summary</b><br />
Codex 2002 is a bit outdated, and as for me can be fairly used only in combination with Rulebook 4 and older enemy Codexes. It's navigation is not that simple, it's unit costs does not make any sense against Codex Space Marines 2008 or Space Wolves 2009, so heavy refresh is required before making it playable. But it's so awesome when comparing against current Codex Chaos Space Marines, with so many interesting features, and real feeling that it's Chaos Legions, cruel and glorious warriors of the Dark Gods, while current Codex 2007 makes it feel like you're playing some Chaos Orks or something. So I will better wait for Codex Blood Angels and will use it for my Night Lords army until next Chaos Codex will be released. It will represent Night Lords Legion a way better than Codex Chaos Space <del>Orks</del> Marines.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-71520168149045712922010-01-19T15:08:00.000+02:002010-01-19T15:08:02.033+02:00Chaos Space Marines Weapons<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
When you'll try to compare Codexes of Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines you will notice that their weapons list is different. But why is it so? They're almost similar armies. Here is the knowledge of different weapon types I know/heard/read about.<br />
<br />
<b>Assault Cannon</b><br />
Assault Cannon is powerful Space Marines, and Chaos have nothing similar. First I thought that it was created after Heresy, and Chaos Marines can't be equipped with those weapons because of this. But then one of Horus Heresy novels about Dark Angels mentioned Assault Cannon on Dreadnought.<br />
It is said that Assault Cannon is not stable weapon and jams from time to time. And in 10.000 years Chaos Marines lost all of their Assault Cannons, using more stable older pattern Autocannons instead.<br />
<br />
<b>Autocannon</b><br />
Autocannon exists in both Codexes, but it looks like only Predators and Dreadnoughts can use it. So, if weapon mentioned in both Codexes - it's obviously pre-heresy weapon. But then Chaos have Autocannon pattern for troops. Looks like this pattern was implemented just before Heresy, and Horus ordered to supply his legions first, then Mars was salvaged and loyal Marines got nothing.<br />
<br />
<b>Storm bolter</b><br />
It's twice as effective as simple bolter, and Loyal Marines have it. It's obvious that it's pattern was found after Heresy, because otherwise Horus' elite terminators would be equipped with those things.<br />
<br />
<b>Demolisher Cannon</b><br />
Vindicators are powered by those huge and extremely powerful cannons. But it's strange that in Codex Space Marines 2004 and Codex Chaos Space Marines 2007 they're the same, but Codex Space Marines 2008 added "Barrage" to them. Why is that? I have no answer. Maybe Matthew Ward thought it is time to modify Demolisher according to 5th edition of Rulebook and made first step like this?...<br />
<br />
<b>Plasma cannon</b><br />
Chaos Marines can take Plasma cannons only for Dreadnoughts, and while their Dreadnoughts are a bit crazy - I never thought about it as about viable solution. But loyal Marines can give those fearsome template weapons even to simple tactical squads and Devastators. Why is that? I see 2 possible solutions:<br />
1. All Chaos Plasma cannons got hot, and Dark Mechanicus don't want to build more of them. Well, it doesn't looks like true, because Plasma guns are still used in Chaos forces, and effectiveness of weapon worth the risks of using it.<br />
2. Troop option appeared after Heresy, the same as Autocannon but from the other side.<br />
Still, I am not sure, if you know something or have some ideas - comment please.<br />
<br />
<b>Multi-melta</b><br />
Those things are accessible for Chaos Dreadnoughts too, but only for them. Maybe the story here is the same as with Plasma cannon? I'm not sure...<br />
<br />
<b>Still have no info</b><br />
I have no info about some weapons, so if you know why they are accessible to first but not accessible to second - please tell me. They are:<br />
<b>Cyclone Missile launcher</b><br />
<b>Havoc Launcher</b><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-32983625176099861662010-01-16T11:18:00.001+02:002010-01-16T11:19:23.153+02:00Warhammer 40k Wounds Allocation<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Summary</b><br />
This article is about Wounds Allocation in Warhammer 40.000. Inspired by <a href="http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/01/40k-rebuttal-wound-allocation-in-5th.html">BoLS article on the same topic</a> and contains some my ideas and suggestions on how to improve current wound allocation rules.<br />
<br />
<b>4th edition</b><br />
Previous edition of Warhammer 40.000 rulebook used different wound allocation strategy. For instance, we have Chaos Space Marines squad of 5, without any special features.<br />
<b>a)</b> We got 3 wounds. Nothing special here, we will just take 3 saves and will remove those who failed.<br />
<b>b)</b> We got 5 wounds, and our opponent can choose who will take individual save. But all models are the same, so no need to choose between them. Each model will take exactly 1 save, so we have 0.33 chance to lose all our models.<br />
<b>c)</b> We got 15 wounds. Book states that we will roll all the saves at the same time. And statistically 15 * 0.33 = 5 and all models will be lost. But it looks like the story of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger's_cat">Schrödinger's cat</a>, statistics can only show us probability and all 5 models somewhere between life and death. How will it look like if we have only 1 dice?<br />
<b>0.</b> Each model have to roll 3 saves, so it still can be saved.<br />
<b>1.</b> First roll - 2. First model is dead.<br />
<b>2.</b> Second roll - 1. Second model is dead.<br />
<b>3.</b> And NOW they all will surely die, becase 3 models will roll other 13 dices.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yb6VQcMGzvV0vuRu4qoiR2MVmB1tBU4ejXkPDWY6haUNUlwIodsb2sTBPQRoaVISPpto-I94p_nGqWiseCaVfq8lBFE97DmrddiQenPmALCZPsOxaaMqKcsEFTHehN9fNsrC9IW69G5c/s1600-h/2failed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yb6VQcMGzvV0vuRu4qoiR2MVmB1tBU4ejXkPDWY6haUNUlwIodsb2sTBPQRoaVISPpto-I94p_nGqWiseCaVfq8lBFE97DmrddiQenPmALCZPsOxaaMqKcsEFTHehN9fNsrC9IW69G5c/s320/2failed.png" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<b>5th edition</b><br />
5th edition came with new wounds allocation system, that from the one hand can help you to save few more units and from the other hand - risk to loose special model is higher.<br />
For example, we have Chaos Space Marines squad of 5, with Aspiring Champion and Meltagun.<br />
<b>a)</b> We got 3 wounds. We will allocate them on simple models, so Champion and Meltagun will surely live.<br />
<b>b)</b> We got 5 wounds. Now we must allocate them on all models, and Champion and Meltagun will take their own saves, while other 3 wounds will go to simple models. In this case chance to lose Champion or Meltagun is much higher than in 4th edition, where opponent was able to choose only one of them to pass it's own save.<br />
<b>c)</b> We got 15 wounds. Now we will allocate 3 wounds on each model. Statistically all the squad will die, but being Warhammer 40.000 player will you just remove all the squad without rolling dices? Dice <i>does matter</i>. We will roll for the Champion, then for Meltagun, and then - gues what - we will roll other 9 dices for 3 models <b>similar to 4th edition</b>!<br />
Why is it so? It's only half solution of 4th edition, it's not complete working system.<br />
<br />
<b>Apply "special model" rules to everyone</b><br />
The first solution that comes in mind - let's roll separately for each model. Statistically it will lead us to the same result, but it will save us from problems of 4th edition. We will just roll 3 dices for each model, and that's it, some of them will get their chance to live another minute.<br />
But now imagine we have squad of 10 models, with Champion and Meltagun. Now you have to roll 10 times instead of 3 as in original 5th edition. And some Orkz will better lose few models more than rolling 20-30 separate rolls...<br />
<br />
<b>Minimize time wasting</b><br />
Well, we have working solution, now let's think about how to save some time.<br />
Here is my suggestion:<br />
<b>1.</b> Roll first line of saves and remove failed with all their other wounds:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhotOOi9Nk4-SamhHf6NHILaM4IN3KJdcXs5-hIGOxhhugdQHpJlBz1rPdA1QCX1N71EqXADSTpsD5UMadIf00MrM-_un_bjnoMvlAxJol9nHsvbTg_58K-bk6zLYRFZdMrzgJJV0BDl4Ra/s1600-h/speed1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhotOOi9Nk4-SamhHf6NHILaM4IN3KJdcXs5-hIGOxhhugdQHpJlBz1rPdA1QCX1N71EqXADSTpsD5UMadIf00MrM-_un_bjnoMvlAxJol9nHsvbTg_58K-bk6zLYRFZdMrzgJJV0BDl4Ra/s320/speed1.png" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<b>2.</b> Roll second line of saves and remove failed with all their other wounds:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqfYTqetmVCPo9887241GHGK60ckHc5_YymdG4aqntvTaSMO_znnsAnV8J0ew8vx9lK1m7zDKYTQ-uu0D_4mCJdJsVtNCWveMG9Rj30OuFiSqmV06GuFJyF_wCxIkre_rFk-cB8nYjQc6/s1600-h/speed2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqfYTqetmVCPo9887241GHGK60ckHc5_YymdG4aqntvTaSMO_znnsAnV8J0ew8vx9lK1m7zDKYTQ-uu0D_4mCJdJsVtNCWveMG9Rj30OuFiSqmV06GuFJyF_wCxIkre_rFk-cB8nYjQc6/s320/speed2.png" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<b>3.</b> Roll last line of wounds as normal, now each model have it's last roll, without taking rolls for their long-dead brothers. In my examples it's obvious that we just saved 3 of our Marines from another line of 3 wounds, minimizing chance to lose them by 0.33.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnePel3M2DeITo_elOE9ycIA012QVV12MqqED62dO3phoZSeaDoPMl03T5xi4r5f-ssyIc6sFvOo6jlRdSN4dM5UHea32z14Uw3-SJrbYqa4TOD5eJlWpUoMGLf6flWeZn6vR-gKMnUJP5/s1600-h/speed3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnePel3M2DeITo_elOE9ycIA012QVV12MqqED62dO3phoZSeaDoPMl03T5xi4r5f-ssyIc6sFvOo6jlRdSN4dM5UHea32z14Uw3-SJrbYqa4TOD5eJlWpUoMGLf6flWeZn6vR-gKMnUJP5/s320/speed3.png" /></a><br />
</div><br />
Maybe you have better suggestions? It would be great to improve current systems, to make them closer to perfect.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-85226211212877922132009-12-25T18:10:00.000+02:002009-12-25T18:10:20.082+02:00Browsers usage share<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
Remind me, what did they said about the most used browser? My <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a> is sure that the most popular browser is Firefox with almost 55%, than Chrome with 23.7%, and only then IE. And I am happy at last Konqueror got into list, with 0.67% share.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStyuaLk2ZZbtHBPAsooYWg7wXq4jvcKmUrlGfAjXbjVmhTeMqAXpdEt49lfRqT0DI6HP7_V8XsanbVquXIdBx1K1IPWUyks6tgPXAPNeOCiMKHdUofWlHLYcLazXCvVnpnn2vh49JLPmQ/s1600-h/Clipboard10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStyuaLk2ZZbtHBPAsooYWg7wXq4jvcKmUrlGfAjXbjVmhTeMqAXpdEt49lfRqT0DI6HP7_V8XsanbVquXIdBx1K1IPWUyks6tgPXAPNeOCiMKHdUofWlHLYcLazXCvVnpnn2vh49JLPmQ/s400/Clipboard10.png" /></a><br />
</div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-5960330601074362732009-12-25T17:55:00.000+02:002009-12-25T17:55:14.438+02:00Homegrown projects: versioning<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
From time to time you need to set up some project at home. There are plenty of reasons: you are starting new opensource project, want to write few HelloWorlds with new frameworks, or you just don't want to go to office today.<br />
<br />
And of course you want to use some <a href=""http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control>VCS</a> with your project, because it allows you to perform development in steps, plus standard VCS features like revert/diff.<br />
<br />
I worked with CVS, SVN, Perforce and a tiny bit with VSS. And few days ago I tried <a href="http://mercurial.selenic.com/">Mercurial</a>. Mostly because great support from <a href="http://wiki.netbeans.org/MercurialVersionControl">NetBeans</a>. But now Mercurial is total winner for home usage, only <a href="http://mercurial.selenic.com/guide/">two simple steps</a> and your repository is up and ready to be used from <a href="http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/OtherTools">your favorite IDE</a>. With Mercurial you don't need to start servers, use network connection, configure some system files using root privileges, just install and init project. And enjoy lightweight source control system that will provide you with all benefits of versioning.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-14798600529811155572009-12-24T12:44:00.000+02:002009-12-24T12:44:24.605+02:00JPA 2.0 migration experience<span style="font-family:sans-serif;">Java EE 6 specification released not so long ago, and now includes release of JPA 2.0 specification. Obviously, you'd like to use JPA 2.0 for your new project. But the problem is, how to choose good implementation and where to get it?<br />
<br />
First you will go to Sun's <a href="http://java.sun.com/javaee/technologies/persistence.jsp">persistance page</a>. You'll read a bit and click on "download" link that will take you on <a href="https://glassfish.dev.java.net/downloads/persistence/JavaPersistence.html">Glassfish Persistance page</a>. But the problem is, you will not find JPA 2.0 reference implementations on that page.<br />
<br />
Ok, next step - <a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=jpa+2+reference+implementation&aq=f&aqi=g1&oq=&fp=b36c7832dbb01be6">ask google</a>. Google sais that EclipseLink is reference implementation for JPA 2.0, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EclipseLink">wikipedia confirms</a>. Let's go to <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/downloads/index.php#2.0.0">EclipseLink downloads</a>. Yea, there are some files to download, but again everything is packed into single huge JAR with dozens of features we don't really need (yea, I have "classpath paranoia"), and the main component is missing - sources for JPA 2.0 API, that can be added to NetBeans libraries to read javadocs and to help it with method argument names (do you remember that Library Manager in NetBeans?).<br />
<br />
We must not give up. Let's go to JSR page and take a look. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_persistence_api#JPA_2.0">Wikipedia states</a> it's <a href="http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=317">JSR 317</a>. After clicking on <a href="http://jcp.org/aboutJava/communityprocess/final/jsr317/index.html">"Download"</a> link we can see another link, that will direct us to <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/downloads/ri.php">"EclipseLink's Reference Implementation Downloads"</a>. After downloading both and taking a look inside of each package we can see that <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php?file=/rt/eclipselink/ri/eclipselink-2.0.0_JPA-2.0.0_RI.zip">"EclipseLink 2.0.0 - minimal bundles that are shipped in the Java EE6 RI"</a> is what we really need. Finally, everything we may need and packed in separate small JARs, so we can include only features we need.<br />
<br />
Now, let's make it work. I have project that used JPA 1 with EclipseLink 1.2.0. I removed all EclipseLink libraries, added <span style="font-family:monospace;">javax.persistence_2.0.0.v200911271158.jar</span> (JPA 2.0 API) and <span style="font-family:monospace;">org.eclipse.persistence.jpa_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar</span> (one that contains org.eclipse.persistence.jpa.PersistenceProvider). First few starts of application ClassNotFound were reported, I searched for required classes and added their JARs. Finally, here is the full list of JARs you need to work with standard JPA 2.0 feature set:<br />
<span style="font-family:monospace;"><blockquote>javax.persistence_2.0.0.v200911271158.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.jpa_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.core_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.asm_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.antlr_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar</blockquote></span><br />
and files to add to Sources tab (NetBeans will be able to show you sources, javadocs and read method argument names from those sources):<br />
<span style="font-family:monospace;"><blockquote>javax.persistence.source_2.0.0.v200911271158.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.jpa.source_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.core.source_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.asm.source_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar<br />
org.eclipse.persistence.antlr.source_2.0.0.v20091127-r5931.jar</blockquote></span><br />
That's all. Use JPA 2.0 with pleasure, support new versions and software evolution, because otherwise we all will become <a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=What+does+the+name+%22Mono%22+mean&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&fp=b36c7832dbb01be6">stupid monkeys</a> and will return back on palms.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-43111104258264725872009-12-15T16:09:00.000+02:002009-12-15T16:09:48.924+02:00GWT EventDispatch and widgets width and height<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
When you're constructing Widget in GWT - it's size is 0 until it's rendered. It's different from Swing, Swing assumed that you're working in EventDispatcher and calculated all sizes instantly. It is not announced but looks like GWT have it's event dispatcher too, and you can use DeferredCommand class to place Command into events loop. Using this approach you can construct Widget, place it into some Container, and then add some Command to DeferredCommand to work with widget's size after current construction operation will be complete and Widget will get it's size.<br />
<br />
It looks like problem of all young widget toolkits, like Swing itself many years ago. They are showing it, its simple, its cool. But when you start coding real application using that toolkit - you'll get many problems, many different "hidden" features and many tricks and workarounds. After many years they'll tell you about EventDispatcher, then they'll implement different kinds of BackgroundWorkers, and different rules how to "use correctly" this toolkit. You can remember situation with "EventDispatcher rule" of Swing and how it was changed from Java5 to Java6 (while nothing inside was changed). Now we can see similar situation with JavaFX, and GWT goes the same way.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-76522404130487115832009-12-11T14:18:00.000+02:002009-12-11T14:18:04.789+02:00NetBeans 6.8 has come<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
NetBeans 6.8 is just released, introducing many new features. It's pity there is nothing interesting for me as for Java-GWT developer. And even nothing interesting for other guys I worked with - they are still using MyFaces 1.1 for some reason, OpenJPA 0.9.7 bundled with WebLogic 10.0.0.0.0, and other EE4 or EE5 stuff. New JIRA plugin can't authentificate into my JIRA server, and I'll better wait for next GWT4NB version, which I hope will support GWT 2.0 and NetBeans 6.8.<br />
<br />
Honestly, it's a pity that the most powerful Java IDE/editor is not improving it's Java stack, but working on some thirdparty features like Kenai, PHP, Ruby...<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-71243276599174483862009-12-10T13:27:00.000+02:002009-12-10T13:27:36.216+02:00Internationalization in UI toolkits<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
I have some experience with many different UI toolkits. The most with Swing, QtJambi, GWT, and some with SWT and Echo2. Some of them providing you with their own i18n techniques. Let's take a closer look...<br />
<br />
<b>Swing</b> is the most comfortable tookit because it gives you full Java API, with source code, possibility to dive deep into it's internals and no external libraries or dependencies. And it gives you standard Java i18n engine: ResourceBundle. It's simple, powerful and effective. And it's customizable (if you know Java of course).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nNij09B4KgckvVWMWKwNQhAo0Tz0INNdz5A52ZJYgIYIzKhDwSVK3MtHPL2DQ-BvoeTlhKuy80a9Mj8hqJiLDadMj-ymVvW9g1jH4bi6tZUCOB6wV7TJYpRDLCxLbdAy7RLpXgCpHs7Q/s1600-h/Clipboard08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nNij09B4KgckvVWMWKwNQhAo0Tz0INNdz5A52ZJYgIYIzKhDwSVK3MtHPL2DQ-BvoeTlhKuy80a9Mj8hqJiLDadMj-ymVvW9g1jH4bi6tZUCOB6wV7TJYpRDLCxLbdAy7RLpXgCpHs7Q/s400/Clipboard08.png" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<b>Qt Jambi</b> gives you Qt's native internationalization engine. It works in other manner than ResourceBundles. API is clean and simple, every Qt widget have method <span style="font-family: monospace;">tr(String)</span> where you can specify default value, but not the key as ResourceBundle suggested. From one point of view it's good because you're hardcoding default values, and you will be sure that on any system it will at least show default version. From the other side - those messages can take a lot of space in your source files, plus they are actually keys in internationalization files, similar to properties files. Having keys like this is not very good, because modifying single char you have to modify all resource bundles, while in ResourceBundle you can leave code "as is", modifying only value but not key.<br />
<br />
<b>GWT</b> is totally different. It's using properties files too, but you have to extend <span style="font-family: monospace;">Constants</span> interface, and add all your keys as <span style="font-family: monospace;">String</span> methods to interface. As for me GWT is the total winner, because you have properties files with key-value pairs and IDE support, and you have compile-time safety because you're getting those strings from Java class. In ResourceBundle you're operating mostly with Strings, and simple typo can waste lots of your time, while using GWT approach you must ensure your keys only once, then you're totally saved from any kinds of typos using Java methods to get your internationalized messages.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-71203831684192375332009-12-10T10:27:00.002+02:002009-12-10T10:28:44.728+02:00GWT 2.0: almost 6000 downloads in 33 hours<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
GWT 2.0 released yesterday, but almost reached 6000 downloads already!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3BI0xC5so6KKdq-c2neU8GWRk2xea5RSuHOfIXIKz6rY_n0GFaUJUFf6IngHf5DIblipGST4N2MsWigYyoq5VhknvAXjDwAiYZkYYdq8V3_T1rULsRFzFGvMvNa4SvhgYLmxf1THwSom/s1600-h/Clipboard07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3BI0xC5so6KKdq-c2neU8GWRk2xea5RSuHOfIXIKz6rY_n0GFaUJUFf6IngHf5DIblipGST4N2MsWigYyoq5VhknvAXjDwAiYZkYYdq8V3_T1rULsRFzFGvMvNa4SvhgYLmxf1THwSom/s400/Clipboard07.png" /></a><br />
</div><br />
Well, I am agree that GWT is pretty cool thing, especially if you must do something for web browsers, but 6000 in 33 hours... Can you remember any other toolkit with same download rate? Even Java developers are not bothering themselves with downloading of new versions.<br />
<br />
<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-15913737971860688582009-12-09T09:54:00.000+02:002009-12-09T09:54:04.539+02:00GWT 2.0 released, HTML drawbacks as new feature<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
Few minutes ago I read about release of GWT 2.0. It's great new release, with many useful features. Except one: UiBinder. HTML and XML both have their problem - they are page-oriented. You can't just replace some widget as long as it's Widget subclass. You need to repaint all page if you want to layout it in some other manner. GWT allowed you to avoid those drawbacks, providing you with great feature-rich component-based framework. You could do everything in plain Java, and as for me it's big advantage, because average quality of GWT project were relatively high (you at least need to know Java, and maybe some component-based framework like Swing, right?). And now any novice HTML coder can feel something native and ugly using GWT, lowering average code quality and writing another crappy application with cute HTML-like interface. Impossible to debug, impossible to apply any Java techniques, and even making harder to use version control system (I hope you noticed that modern DIFF algorithms are not very good with XML?).<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-43746035434826795972009-11-27T13:24:00.000+02:002009-11-27T13:24:18.577+02:00Stupid frameworks are forcing you to do stupid things<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
I am working with GWT+GXT right now. And I have strange problem - I can't save some user object. Just can't. When user logined to the system I want to save user object, containing his name, mail, role, group and other things. But as soon as F5 pressed - all static is cleared from the application, so even static fields can't help me. Cookies can help me, but they're limited to String only...<br />
<br />
Of course my imagination works fine, and I can implement some GWT RPC service and get user from the server (where I have user's session, and I can save User object into that session). But it's stupid, isn't it?<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-42557841188698576202009-11-26T14:34:00.000+02:002009-11-26T14:34:08.696+02:00NetBeans and Safari<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br />
On my Windows box I am using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_(web_browser)">Safari</a> to read javadocs. Because of fonts antialiasing of course. And just noticed strange effect - NetBeans starts to lag when Safari is opened. Sources parsing is slower, autocomplete waits visibly longer before suggest something... Do you know where is the problem?<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-59699607905625521672009-11-25T13:01:00.000+02:002009-11-25T13:01:43.933+02:00GWT2 Firefox plugin download<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
First release candidate of GWT2 released on November 17, it can be downloaded <a href="http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-2.0.0-rc1.zip">here</a>. One of the first changes you'll notice - they removed their "hosted browser" and added plugins for some browsers that will help browser (Firefox?) to do the job of "hosted browser". The first time you'll run application - it will suggest you to download plugin. But what can you do it you want to copy your project on workstation with strict or no internet? Or it you're planning to clean Firefox profile from time to time?<br />
<br />
I asked question about where can I get those plugins on Google Groups for GWT, but 7 days passed and no answers...<br />
<br />
So here is the small guide how you can get it manually.<br />
1. Find folder where firefox storing it's plugins. For me it was <span style="font-family: monospace;">C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\5zchoudq.default\extensions\gwt-dmp-ff35@gwt.google.com</span> (yes, yes, I am still using Windows on my job).<br />
2. Open <span style="font-family: monospace;">install.rdf</span> in text editor. After reading it for some time the only interesting line you'll find looks like this: <span style="font-family: monospace;">http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/plugins/xpcom/prebuilt/update.rdf</span> in <span style="font-family: monospace;">em:updateURL</span> tag.<br />
3. Open that link in browser and read that file. Now you can see the link where you can get that extension, can't you? Here is it: <span style="font-family: monospace;"><a href="https://dl-ssl.google.com/gwt/plugins/firefox/gwt-dev-plugin.xpi">https://dl-ssl.google.com/gwt/plugins/firefox/gwt-dev-plugin.xpi</a></span>.<br />
4. Now you can save it for farther usage.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-17461178078178597912009-10-13T11:53:00.001+03:002009-10-13T11:54:31.766+03:00Tablet on VirtualBox guest<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br />
If you're Linux user and you have Wacom Intuos3 tablet - it's obvious that GIMP will not satisfy your needs. Solution exists: you can download and install free <a href="http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads">VirtualBox</a>, install WindowsXP as guest system and work with your tablet in guest system, installing your favourite graphics application on Windows guest.<br />
I did those steps: installed VirtualBox 3.0.8 on my SUSE Linux 11.1, installed WindowsXP as guest. But I couldn't configure it - checkbox to turn on tablet in guest system was disabled (grayed out).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkc4h_DL6ZrsnocdbaVwx3Y0D8s2VGZeFh0kLnAb3WC9Vw5DlhOJe_evMzKUY-UJqSNmYVgHYIcd5z_ID3wOkbspZuW6Z_qfj1HIL9LzHyT5dJCTz3g-bhKw5rrRq9nNr01e52F90voMbq/s1600-h/tablet_on_virtualbox.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkc4h_DL6ZrsnocdbaVwx3Y0D8s2VGZeFh0kLnAb3WC9Vw5DlhOJe_evMzKUY-UJqSNmYVgHYIcd5z_ID3wOkbspZuW6Z_qfj1HIL9LzHyT5dJCTz3g-bhKw5rrRq9nNr01e52F90voMbq/s320/tablet_on_virtualbox.png" /></a></div>I spent few hours reading different forums and bugreports, most of them suggested to mount tablet as usbfs to your system, but it didn't worked for me. When I found solution - it was fast and simple:<br />
1. Open your <span style="font-family: monospace;">/etc/udev/rules.d/10-vboxdrv.rules</span> as root. You will see something like this:<br />
<span style="font-family: monospace;"><blockquote>KERNEL=="vboxdrv", NAME="vboxdrv", OWNER="root", GROUP="root", MODE="0600"<br />
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", GROUP="vboxusers", MODE="0664"<br />
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", GROUP="vboxusers", MODE="0664"<br />
</blockquote></span><br />
2. Modify third line like this (adding name):<br />
<span style="font-family: monospace;"><blockquote>SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", NAME="VirtualBox/$env{BUSNUM}/$env{DEVNUM}", GROUP="vboxusers", MODE="0664"</blockquote></span><br />
3. Restart your system to be sure.<br />
<br />
That's it! Now checkbox will be enabled and you will be able to turn on your USB tablet for guest system. VirtualBox will fail with error (something like couldn't create usb proxy device) but only 2 times, when pressing third time - tablet will be recognised by guest system and you will be able to use it. Of course you should also disable mouse integration and your tablet will no longer be available to your host Linux system, but what for do you need it there anyway?<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-17135170587382286642009-10-08T13:02:00.005+03:002009-12-11T17:36:35.359+02:00Problems of small opensource projects<span style="font-family: sans-serif;">Being Java developer and fan of OpenSource <a href="http://heresylabs.googlecode.com/">I am writing</a> lots of stuff. Mostly for myself, tools that I am missing or to get some experience with something. But of course there are projects that I think others will like and use if they will know more about it. Few examples:<br />
<ul><li>Once I wrote small tool for Swing apps to choose LookAndFeel in runtime. It was <a href="http://code.google.com/p/heresylabs/wiki/JLAFChooser">JLAFChooser</a> and I hoped it will become popular very soon. But days passed and downloads count was small. I thought that mostly it's downloaded by different search engines, nobody cares about it. And I just forgot about it, didn't planned to make it better. Download rate is about 1.001 per day. No bugs, no feature requests, no thanx or private mails. Nothing. Maybe this project had it's future, but now it's as good as dead. And even java.net registration did nothing to improve the situation.</li>
<li>Then came <a href="http://p4nb.googlecode.com/">p4nb</a>. I did it for myself anyway, I am still using it at work because it's the best available Perforce plugin for NetBeans IDE. It's just enough for me. And nobody cares. Looks like nobody using NetBeans and Perforce at once. I can implement vast amount of features, including changes browsing, changelist management and many other. But I have more interesting projects for myself, and nobody else asks for it. Why should I do it?</li>
</ul>You will ask what's the point of that moaning? But the point is, once one guy mailed me with words like "hey, I added few features to your p4nb plugin, maybe you need it?". That day I understood that I am not the only user of that plugin, there are at least another man using it. It was the new beginning for p4nb, it got completely rewritten with new and better feature set and better usability. And then it was forgotten again, because all users were glad with what they had, no bugs and no change requests fired.<br />
Today I got a mail from one guy who is using JLAFChooser, he asked about launching it from Java WebStart. Of course I answered him, but why so late? I have no interest in that peace of software now, and I will not get back to it's development. It's dead for me, because no one really needed it when it was interesting for me.<br />
<ol><li>How many projects died like this? What kind of project they were, maybe we lost something really interesting?</li>
<li>What should I do to prevent it in future? Post to slashdot? Buy Google Ads? Tell me what I did wrong to fix it in future.</li>
</ol>Thanx for your attention, and I hope this post will not be just ignored in the same sad manner.<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-73449330510164590012009-08-11T14:17:00.000+03:002009-08-11T14:18:53.173+03:00Using license with NetBeans project<span style="font-family:sans-serif;"><br /><br />When you're using GPL or LGPL with your project - you should add license statement to every source file of your project. Using NetBeans it's not that simple - you have to use PROJECT/nbproject/project.properties file to add project.license=default_2 for example, using file name of your license template (but not template name itself). To make your life even harder - GPL and LGPL statements are using name of your project three times. Because of this I created separate templates for each of my (L)GPL projects to include project name. Because of this is took a time to set a complete new project. Now I found solution how to make NetBeans use single GPL template for all projects:<br /><br />1. use ${project.name} for name of your project. For example: "This file is part of ${project.name}.".<br />2. in file PROJECT/nbproject/project.properties add project.license=default_1 (or any other file name for your license).<br />3. in same file (PROJECT/nbproject/project.properties) add project.name=MyNewProject<br /><br />Now create new Class file and check license header of your file. Hope you'll enjoy!<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-86122400641429837072009-07-23T09:37:00.002+03:002009-07-23T09:38:21.508+03:00KDE 4.3 RC3<span style="font-family:arial;"><br />You may already know that KDE 4.3 RC3 released, and release delayed for a week. I can't stand that news, I thought that is will be released this Monday, but another 2 weeks... And of course I want to try it without harming my every day system with KDE 4.2.4 and only stable packages. In that moment I remembered about kde4live CDs, that I used some time before SUSE 11.1 released. And of course I <a href="http://home.kde.org/~binner/kde-four-live/">found it</a> fast enought using Google. And there are good news - on top of the page there is message that KDE 4.3 RC3 already packed to LiveCD and can be downloaded from <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Medias/images/iso/">SUSE's repositories</a>. Well, Kubuntu users, don't you feel betrayed that your favourite "KDE-oriented" distro is far behind great and green OpenSUSE?<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-76944335441899444182009-07-09T15:05:00.010+03:002009-07-10T11:14:43.836+03:00Kompare - the only valuable diff for M$Windows<span style="font-family:arial;"><br />I used KDE and Linux for many years, and of course I was shocked when I had to switch to Windows in new office and I didn't found all those little but important tools KDE guys made for us all. Today I will tell you about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kompare">Kompare</a>.<br /><br /><b>My history as Kompare user</b><br />While being developer from time to time you need to diff between two files. Of course almost any IDE and other development-oriented tool have own diff UI. Of course I used many of them, some are more useful than others. For example older <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/">Eclipse</a> diffs were so ugly that it was hard to look at, <a href="http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/">IDEA</a> had horizontal 3-way comparison, older <a href="http://www.netbeans.org/">NetBeans</a> versions - vertical 3-was comparison, <a href="http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/">KDiff3</a> showed too much of not required data and also was ugly enought. Only <a href="http://www.syntevo.com/smartsvn/">SmartSVN</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kompare">Kompare</a> used two-way clean and informative diff, but while SmartSVN was written in Swing - Kompare used all possible KDE features including font antialiasing, user's colouring and icon theme and of course smooth comparison blocks. While being feature-rich it was only comparison tool with great UI, so I stuck with it.<br /><br /><b>Switching to Windows</b><br />Of course after I got used with pretty tool like this - it's hard to move to something ugly and not so usable. When on the new job I had use Windows - I went to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_comparison_tools">wikipedia</a> to search for another file comparison tool. And what do you think, I downloaded every free-to-download tool and tried it - and it failed. Some of them took 3-4 steps before show you actual diff, others were overloaded with features, others had ugly UIs. I couldn't make myself use them. I've been lucky and by that time NetBeans team swithed to 2-way diff, and I used NetBeans for even smallest comparison operations.<br /><br /><b>kde4win salvation</b><br />I was lucky enought not to die before kde4win project released with Kompare ported to Windows. Of course few first releases didn't helped me also, but starting with 4.2.0 release Kompare was fully functional. And not with kde4win you can use this great tool if file comparison operations is critical for you.<br /><br /><b>installing</b><br />It's not hard. You don't even have to compile something. Only few steps:<br /><ol><br /><li>Go to <a href="http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/diffutils.htm">gnuwin32 diffutils</a>, download and install.</li><br /><li>Download <a href="http://www.winkde.org/pub/kde/ports/win32/installer/kdewin-installer-gui-latest.exe">kdewin installer</a> and launch it.</li><br /><li>After installing kde4win - start kompare and in "Diff" section show him where your diff.exe (from gnuwin32 diffutils) is located.</li><br /><li>Restart Kompare and it's ready to use!</li></ol><br />Now you can enjoy your life without feeling the pain of uncompared files on your system.<br /><br /><b>PS:</b> Kompare can be used even for folders comparison - and it's much more powerfull than you can expect from simple file manager!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTIzUoXOGMXGMK2V3jVhzb27XZx4sn0UwDhktGJRDRfEB72QKLKkEzxw3rgC_xiuHpqhyphenhyphendqmOspj3CQO1aDXjhIL7C4IZWk6qqzr4YcDx1DCE8t71UUv4Mho7lBvDLUjla1nHzfMZdk3HN/s1600-h/Kompare.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTIzUoXOGMXGMK2V3jVhzb27XZx4sn0UwDhktGJRDRfEB72QKLKkEzxw3rgC_xiuHpqhyphenhyphendqmOspj3CQO1aDXjhIL7C4IZWk6qqzr4YcDx1DCE8t71UUv4Mho7lBvDLUjla1nHzfMZdk3HN/s320/Kompare.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356741925538605634" /></a><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982495715512338042.post-19279219979058305512009-07-06T16:29:00.000+03:002009-07-06T16:30:02.013+03:00Yet another opinion in Mono case<span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><a href="http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/37633">There</a> <a href="http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/37765">were</a> <a href="http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/37782">many</a> <a href="http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/37806">Mono</a> <a href="http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/37826">debates</a> <a href="http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/37924">on</a> <a href="http://www.tuxmachines.org/">Tuxmachines</a> for last few weeks. Of course I have my own opinion on this topic. I will not blame Mono right now, just my thoughts about distributing it with Linuxes.<br /><br /><b>Default distribution</b><br />As far as I know, all those debates started when Debian guys thought about including Mono into default installation. But what it default installation? Isn't it related to target users? It's obvious that when you installing Ubuntu - you target home desktops, SLED or Mandrake - office, SLES or Slackware - servers. Depending on that choice "defaults" are very subjective. But is there any distribution problem? I don't see it. Being SUSE user I have my distribution on DVD media, lots of stuff could be fitted there, why not include Mono? If you're single CD distribution - you should think twice and count all Mono-based software you'd like to install. If it's just single application - it will be funny to install mono because of it.<br /><br />Next, most of Mono apps are made for GNOME. I see no reasons to install it with KDE-based distribution, or console installations.<br /><br /><b>Thinking about users</b><br />In perfect world user should never bother with technology used in his favourite apps. Application should just do it's job, not promote or blame something. To mono or not to mono should depend on those user apps, but should not be some politics or religion choice. As for me I hate beagle, banshee and f-spot. Mono should not be installed for me. And vice-versa. If user will notice any Mono application he will run - it will look like there is some problem with Mono, don't you think so?<br /><br /><b>System core</b><br />While it's completely OK to depend some desktop apps on Mono or other interpreted stuff - it's totally wrong to use it for system parts. Every next level of abstraction and interpretation adds additional level of possible problems, removes some part of integration and requires more resources to work. Can you imagine our world if HAL will be written in ruby or python or something like that? System must not be related on interpretator vendor or on subjective solutions. You may already see some bad examples like ZEN in SUSE 10.0, pulseaudio in current distributions, gcj instead of Sun JRE in fedoras and many more.<br /><br /><b>From my perspective</b><br />It's strange to see, but all mono-based apps I know makes me sick. Beagle that starts and scans event without any GUI installed. ZEN that made me think about switching away from SUSE. Banshee with it's crippled playlists. F-spot with it's lack of features. MonoDevelop with it's lame possibilities totally unexpected in any IDE. I think that the day I will not be able to set "taboo" on Mono in my SUSE installation will be the last day of me as SUSE user.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0