It's a logic simulator. Above picture shows a working simulation of an SR-latch (a memory cell) composed of two NAND-gates, connected to two switches and one LED.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Logic Simulator
This weekend, I've started working on an application that I have been wanting to build for a long time.
It's a logic simulator. Above picture shows a working simulation of an SR-latch (a memory cell) composed of two NAND-gates, connected to two switches and one LED.
It's a logic simulator. Above picture shows a working simulation of an SR-latch (a memory cell) composed of two NAND-gates, connected to two switches and one LED.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Thunder Website Launched
I've just launched a website for "Thunder", my new Text user Interface project.
You can now also download a compiled version of Thunder, which makes it easier for new developers to get started.
There are a couple of things not working (for example, the API is not yet accessible), and there might also be some problems with the binary release (I have not checked the source in a while) but I'll be fixing all those issues over the next couple of days.
The important thing for me was to get it out there.
Developers, try to build the Example Application and let me know what you think.
You can now also download a compiled version of Thunder, which makes it easier for new developers to get started.
There are a couple of things not working (for example, the API is not yet accessible), and there might also be some problems with the binary release (I have not checked the source in a while) but I'll be fixing all those issues over the next couple of days.
The important thing for me was to get it out there.
Developers, try to build the Example Application and let me know what you think.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thunder/Lightening demo
Tomorrow I'll release the code for Thunder, Lightening and a few other tools.
This weekend I've been writing a user interface (using Thunder) for Spider Solitaire, which for now will be the default demo of the project.
You can try the demo here (Java required).
On Ubuntu (xterm):
On Ubuntu (gnome-terminal):
This weekend I've been writing a user interface (using Thunder) for Spider Solitaire, which for now will be the default demo of the project.
You can try the demo here (Java required).
Screenshots
On Windows XP (custom platform independent terminal):On Ubuntu (xterm):
On Ubuntu (gnome-terminal):
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Introducing Thunder & Lightening
(note the "e" in "Lightening")
I'm happy to announce that a development version of a new text user interface system for Java (that I have called "Thunder", due to it's visual likeness to Visual Basic for DOS) will be released on the first of August.
The project is able to run on Avian, the minimalist Java VM that is also used in LFClass, making it an excellent choice for use in embedded systems.
This project will provide the UI for LFScript 5. Also, the current prompt based interactive configurator in LFScript 4 will soon get a Thunder based user interface.
In addition to being able to run on a Unix terminal, a cross-platform GUI terminal enables applications based on Thunder/Lightening to run on any graphical OS, including Windows and Mac.
Thunder (and Lightening) will get their own project page at
http://marcelweb.nl/thunder/.
Lightening provides back end services for widgets (like event dispatching), while Thunder provides the actual widgets and thus the look and feel. Developers will often only deal with the Thunder API.
The Lightening API is flexible enough to allow other kinds of user interfaces to be built on top of it (for example a graphical UI) but since there already are many excellent projects providing GUI's (Swing and SWT among others) the primary focus is Text UI's through Thunder. Also, Thunder currently only implements one look (or theme), while in the future it will probably be extended to provide a pluggable look and feel.
I'm happy to announce that a development version of a new text user interface system for Java (that I have called "Thunder", due to it's visual likeness to Visual Basic for DOS) will be released on the first of August.
The project is able to run on Avian, the minimalist Java VM that is also used in LFClass, making it an excellent choice for use in embedded systems.
This project will provide the UI for LFScript 5. Also, the current prompt based interactive configurator in LFScript 4 will soon get a Thunder based user interface.
In addition to being able to run on a Unix terminal, a cross-platform GUI terminal enables applications based on Thunder/Lightening to run on any graphical OS, including Windows and Mac.
Thunder (and Lightening) will get their own project page at
http://marcelweb.nl/thunder/.
"Thunder" versus "Lightening"
Thunder is based on another new project of mine, which I have called "Lightening". The name "Lightening" was chosen because the code is leight weight (meaning platform independent) and indeed closely related to "Thunder".Lightening provides back end services for widgets (like event dispatching), while Thunder provides the actual widgets and thus the look and feel. Developers will often only deal with the Thunder API.
The Lightening API is flexible enough to allow other kinds of user interfaces to be built on top of it (for example a graphical UI) but since there already are many excellent projects providing GUI's (Swing and SWT among others) the primary focus is Text UI's through Thunder. Also, Thunder currently only implements one look (or theme), while in the future it will probably be extended to provide a pluggable look and feel.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Revision 10 and what to do before LFScript 4 goes stable
LFScript 4 revision 10 will be released in a few minutes.
It contains a few bugfixes, it makes the build of Gnome more stable and scripts for VLC media player and OpenJDK are now ready for use.
'TODO' overview
The short version of what is left to do is: Make sure that LFScript 4 contains
everything that was in LFScript 3.3 and a proper fsOS2 Live CD (or DVD) can be
produced for both 32-bit and 64-bit machines.
The rest of this blog post will explain what is exactly on my 'TODO' list before I will declare LFScript 4 as "stable" and it will get version number 1.0 (it is now version 0.7). Note that I may release a few more revisions before this happens.
Numbers in this article (like #766168) refer to bug entries in Launchpad
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/lfscript). It is there that you can check the status
for each item on this list. When all bugs have been fixed, 1.0 will be released.
Make sure everything in Gnome works perfectly
At this moment (revision 10) Gnome will compile without problems, but at run time there are still some minor problems:
Some additional software should also be included, in particular Gnome-Media (to allow volume control in Gnome) and GParted (partitioning software) (#792921).
Other issues
There are also still some minor problems with non-gnome scripts;
Add remaining scripts from LFScript 3.3 (#766168)
Scripts which were available in LFScript 3.3, but still need to be updated for use in LFScript 4:
Written documentation (#792932)
Because LFScript 4 has had quite a few changes recently, I've deliberately neglected to keep the documentation up to date (with the exception of the video tutorials). After all, what's the point in writing extensive documentation for features that will change or be dropped shortly after. But now, I feel that it's time to write some complete and properly formatted (as in: not only in plain text, maybe in docbook) documentation.
Merge scripts into ScriptFactory (#792933)
My latest revisions have been about implementing scripts, and not about preserving the differences to be applied in later versions of LFS and BLFS. Most people do not use ScriptFactory at all (and may even think "What the hell is ScriptFactory?") so this is only a minor issue. But it is something that needs to be done for a 1.0 release.
Did I miss something?
It's possible I'll uncover some other minor issues in the time before I release 1.0, in which case I'll file a bug on it at Launchpad.
The bug reporting tool is open for everyone with Launchpad account (which you can get for free). So, if something is missing from this list and also not yet reported on Launchpad (see link at the top of this post) feel free to report it.
It contains a few bugfixes, it makes the build of Gnome more stable and scripts for VLC media player and OpenJDK are now ready for use.
'TODO' overview
The short version of what is left to do is: Make sure that LFScript 4 contains
everything that was in LFScript 3.3 and a proper fsOS2 Live CD (or DVD) can be
produced for both 32-bit and 64-bit machines.
The rest of this blog post will explain what is exactly on my 'TODO' list before I will declare LFScript 4 as "stable" and it will get version number 1.0 (it is now version 0.7). Note that I may release a few more revisions before this happens.
Numbers in this article (like #766168) refer to bug entries in Launchpad
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/lfscript). It is there that you can check the status
for each item on this list. When all bugs have been fixed, 1.0 will be released.
Make sure everything in Gnome works perfectly
At this moment (revision 10) Gnome will compile without problems, but at run time there are still some minor problems:
- GDM will not allow you to login (it does not display a list of users or user/password text fields), nor will it allow you to reboot or shutdown, making it pretty useless (#792918).
- If GDM is run at boot (as the default display manager), it will block the initialization of text mode logins, making it impossible to login in any way (#792919).
- The Gnome menu editor will not work if PyGTK is not installed. PyGTK is currently not a dependency of any Gnome script (#792920).
Some additional software should also be included, in particular Gnome-Media (to allow volume control in Gnome) and GParted (partitioning software) (#792921).
Other issues
There are also still some minor problems with non-gnome scripts;
- Firefox does not link to the Java plugin if OpenJDK is installed (#792925).
- Firefox does not have an entry in the Gnome applications menu (#792927).
- A live CD should be ejected before shutdown or reboot (#792928).
- The live CD should start with the console linked to a framebuffer device (this will allow Tux to present itself at boot and provide better color support for text-mode applications). The script 'init.sh' does not create a framebuffer device file (#792930).
Add remaining scripts from LFScript 3.3 (#766168)
Scripts which were available in LFScript 3.3, but still need to be updated for use in LFScript 4:
- Xfce additional software (beyond xfce-core)
- KDE additional software (beyond kdebase)
- Gnome runtime requirements (consolekit, pygtk)
- Gnome additional software (a few have already been included in LFScript 4, but not all)
- Thunderbird
- A nice theme (I used 'candido' in LFScript 3, but maybe fsos2 should have something new)
- Extra fonts
Written documentation (#792932)
Because LFScript 4 has had quite a few changes recently, I've deliberately neglected to keep the documentation up to date (with the exception of the video tutorials). After all, what's the point in writing extensive documentation for features that will change or be dropped shortly after. But now, I feel that it's time to write some complete and properly formatted (as in: not only in plain text, maybe in docbook) documentation.
Merge scripts into ScriptFactory (#792933)
My latest revisions have been about implementing scripts, and not about preserving the differences to be applied in later versions of LFS and BLFS. Most people do not use ScriptFactory at all (and may even think "What the hell is ScriptFactory?") so this is only a minor issue. But it is something that needs to be done for a 1.0 release.
Did I miss something?
It's possible I'll uncover some other minor issues in the time before I release 1.0, in which case I'll file a bug on it at Launchpad.
The bug reporting tool is open for everyone with Launchpad account (which you can get for free). So, if something is missing from this list and also not yet reported on Launchpad (see link at the top of this post) feel free to report it.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Revision 9 released
This revision includes scripts for LFS-6.8 and BLFS-r8882. There have been a number of changes and a lot of bugfixes. Some highlights:
- Added script for Xfce 4.8.
- Gnome should now be able to build and run properly.
- Added an interactive configuration utility which will run when you install a system. This will set up the default window manager and automatically configure your system to start in graphical mode (if you have X11 installed) and prompt you to set a root password.
- Improved on the way log files are stored.
- Added support for PRE-installation scripts.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Revision 8 released
LFScript 4 revision 8 has been released.
This is mostly a bugfix release. This revision includes scripts for LFS-6.8 and BLFS-r8879 (just like revision 7 did).
One new feature deserves a mention though; Whenever a specified URL in any script is no longer valid, LFScript will now automatically try to download that file from my new code repository (see my previous blog entry).
This is mostly a bugfix release. This revision includes scripts for LFS-6.8 and BLFS-r8879 (just like revision 7 did).
One new feature deserves a mention though; Whenever a specified URL in any script is no longer valid, LFScript will now automatically try to download that file from my new code repository (see my previous blog entry).
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