Java | A Glimpse of GNU/Linux

Track your thoughts with Freemind

By admin June 4, 2008 Uncategorized 1 Comment

Freemind is the first and best mindmapper application that is known to me. Thanks to Mr. Dhanan for introducing to that software and demonstrating it’s power in various arenas. Freemind is written in Java, that makes it a highly portable application.
Well, a mindmapper is an application which helps you to perform mindmapping. Perplexing, right ?? Then what is mindmapping ??

“A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.” — Says wikipedia.

Recent days, I have been using Freemind extensively, for the presentations ( yes, I did one “Introduction to programming in Python” presentation in Freemind for HP zone members of Ushustech). I was really able to convey the “Flow of my thought” using mindmaps in Freemind and I really enjoyed that presentation ( I hope those guys too ).

We can use freemind for designs of applications too. I have decided to do one small Java ME application to find the Body Mass Index (BMI) . First thing I created is the mindmap of that application and then code it. That way, I can think over the application’s features and drawbacks visually. My BMI mindmap goes like this..

Next time , when you are going to present something, do it in Freemind . It will be a refreshingly new experience.

Sweet Home 3D for a beautiful home

By admin May 28, 2008 Uncategorized No Comments

Want to design the interiors of your new Home in Gnu/Linux ? or you just need to modify the interiors of your’ home ? … You can do it all using the nice program called Sweet Home 3D. It is available from http://sweethome3d.sourceforge.net/index.html.

Just download the software from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/sweethome3d/SweetHome3D-1.3-linux-x86.tgz. As it is a java based Software, make sure that you have openjdk installed in your machine. In the latest Ubuntu Hardy Heron release, the execution of Sweet Home 3D was flawless.

Have a look at my experiements with SweetHome 3D

It’s really cool.. You can make wonders with some sense of beauty and a mind willing to spend hours with this software.

My pretty “Cafe Babe”….

By admin April 10, 2008 Uncategorized No Comments

Today I have decided to analyse the class files of my “Chicken Warrior” program. Instead of .java files, I chose the .class files and viewed it using the PSPad Hex editor… I found something extra ordinary in the class file (may be , I am looking into the .class file using the hex editor for the first time… What I saw in
the .class file was this..

The CAFEBABE !!! in a class.. What a sexy class.. A quick google search directed me to this site.. http://www.artima.com/insidejvm/whyCAFEBABE.html

CAFEBABE is the magic number for the .class files in Java. And the magic number is a constant used to identify a file format or protocol in the hacker’s language..

Well, can’t resist java now, anyway there is a Babe in every java class..

Aiming Small — An embedded Java program for my K300i mobile

By admin February 6, 2008 Uncategorized 1 Comment

When I spent money to correct the long privailing display problem of my Sony Ericsson K300i mobile phone, only aim in my mind was to use it as a programmer’s toy … write my own programs (Here they restricted me to Java alone) for my small device that I own.

I still remember that rainy day in Mumbai. Then I was working with HCL infosystems, Andheri East office, Mumbai. It was raining slowly when we left the office. From Chandivili to RahejaVihar (Where I work and live respectively) there was about 1.5 km distance. So we decided to walk. I was keeping my newly owned K300i on my pant’s pocket to keep it from water. Almost on the middle of the journey, the rain became heavy. So we decided to find refuge in the nearby bar ( Titanic bar near Chandivili studio which “sank” in fire almost six months later, anyway me and Sreekumar frequently visited there on Saturdays and Sundays). Standing under the safety of the roofs of Titanic, I felt like I should sneeze.. As I was(?) a gentleman , I decided to cover my face during sneezing to help others …… As the urge to sneeze was high, I went for the handkerchief which was in my pants pocket . I got a touch of it and I went for it very fast…. too fast….

Then I saw something raising in the air… That was my mobile phone which I kept in my pants pocket along with handkerchief. On the hurry , I took the handkerchief in a hurry but forget to keep the mobile in the pocket itself. It flew in the air and landed on the road. I felt a shiver in my body.. my devil…. what did I do with my Rs. 5500 /-
After that , the same mobile served me loyally for about an year without display .. My friends used to advise me to change the mobile. But I thought as it is doing the basic functions even without the display, why bother to change it ?

But later I have changed my decision and repaired it by spending near to a cool thousand rupees. My only aim was to use the JVM in that phone .. Yes , the K300i has a JVM installation in it. I have installed the necessary packages, J2SE implemenation for Linux. the sun_java_wireless_toolkit-2_5_2-linux.bin , the J2ME implementation … etc and used the Sun’s sample program available at http://developers.sun.com/mobility/midp/articles/wtoolkit/src/HelloMIDlet.java.

Now the screenshot of that emulator running that program in Fedora core 6 is available with me I need to check the newly developed jad and jar on my mobile phone today itself

Android : The Linux/Google/Java/Mobile combination

By admin November 14, 2007 Uncategorized No Comments

Seems like I am more attracted towards google’s innovations in the Linux domain. The new craze is Android API.

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. This early look at the Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.

The Android SDK is available at http://code.google.com/android/download.html . If you are interested in making some USD (a cool 10 M !!), then have a look at the Android Developer challenge (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/calling-all-developers-10m-android.html)