dz>0

I need to set up my XP computer so I can just run it remotely from my Mac.  Windows Remote Desktop. I’ve enabled it on the PC. Now what can I use as a client on my Mac? Microsoft has a free client.   

Time to update.
done!

http://drewk.net/NetBeansProjects.zip

/*
* Writting a KML facility to help with FCS debugging.
*/
package gekml;

import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.util.ArrayList;

/**
* < ?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
*
* * Simple placemark
* Attached to the ground. Intelligently places itself
* at the height of the underlying terrain.
* * -122.0822035425683,37.42228990140251,0
* * *
* @author drew
* @author Andrew Kaluzniacki : drewk.net
* @copyright Andrew Kaluzniacki
*/
public class KmlFile {

private KmlFile() {

// empty
}

public static KmlFile create() {
return new KmlFile();
}
private ArrayList placemarkList = new ArrayList();

public void addPlacemark(double longitude, double latitude, String name, String description) {
placemarkList.add(new Placemark(longitude, latitude, 0, name, description));
}

public void saveAs(String filePath) {

FileOutputStream out = null;
try {
out = new FileOutputStream(filePath);
} catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
throw new IllegalArgumentException(”SaveAs must have valid filePath:” + filePath);
}
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(out);

pw.print(”< ?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>“);
pw.print(” “);

for (int i = 0; i < placemarkList.size(); i++) {
pw.print(((Placemark) placemarkList.get(i)).toXmlString());
}

pw.print(" “);

if (pw.checkError()) {
System.err.println(”Error in ” + pw.toString());
}

pw.close();
try {
out.close();
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
throw new IllegalStateException(”Error in KmlFile::SaveAs()”);
} finally {
try {
out.close();
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}

——–

/*
* To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
* and open the template in the editor.
* Andrew Kaluzniacki
*
*/

/**
* Two key items:
* Placemarks - used to show aimpoints
* Polygon - used to show the target area
*
* Start:
* If I can just get plaecmarks working, I can fake target areas.
* The key is to get the addPlacemark(location, name)
*
*
* References:
* http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_tut.html#descriptive_html
*
*
*
* < ?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
*
* * Simple placemark
* Attached to the ground. Intelligently places itself
* at the height of the underlying terrain.
* * -122.0822035425683,37.42228990140251,0
* * *
*
*
*/
package gekml;

/**
*
* @author drew
*/
public class Main {

/**
* @param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create a nice kml file
KmlFile kf = KmlFile.create();

// 32°25′34.65″N
// 106°40′13.68″W
kf.addPlacemark( -106.6253642521367, 32.35612182602554, “AndrewK”, “Is Success”);
kf.saveAs(”my.kml”);
}
}

——-
/*
* To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
* and open the template in the editor.
*/

package gekml;

/**
* * * Simple placemark
* Attached to the ground. Intelligently places itself
* at the height of the underlying terrain.
* * -122.0822035425683,37.42228990140251,0
* * * @author drew
* @author Andrew Kaluzniacki : drewk.net
* @copyright Andrew Kaluzniacki
*/
public class Placemark {

private double longitude;
private double latitude;
/** relative to ground - o is at ground level */
private double altitude;
private String name = “Untitled Placemark”;
private String description = “”;

Placemark(double longitude, double latitude, double altitude, String name, String description)
{
this.longitude = longitude;
this.latitude = latitude;
this.altitude = altitude;
if ( name != null ) {
this.name = name;
}
if ( description != null ) {
this.description = description;
}
}

/** Write to stream as xml
*
*/
String toXmlString() {
StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
buf.append(” \n”);
buf.append(” “).append(name).append(”\n”);
buf.append(” “).append(description).append(”\n”);
buf.append(” \n”);
buf.append(” “).append(longitude).append(’,');
buf.append(latitude).append(’,').append(altitude).append(”\n”);
buf.append(” \n”);
buf.append(”\n”);
return buf.toString();
}
}

Today’s question is what language to use to teach programming to a bright young child? I’ve seen the question before with answers ranging from Java to VB to Squeak.

Slashdot has this MIT Media Lab Making Programming Fun For Kids. Not surprising that there are some strong opinions in the thread.

Looks like Scratch is based on Squeak which in turn is based on Smalltalk. Smalltalk sound about the right speed! I’ll have to look at both and see what I think.

Scratch is perfect for learning to program. I very much like the structuring of control, motion, sense, variable. The visual iconography of control structures wrapping statements is ingenious.

In a few hours we had a pong style game going. It is beautiful. Of course I can also see where some of the limits will occur. I don’t see any programmatic method of sprite creation or destruction.

I’d like to mount my Linux web directories on my Mac. SMB would seem appropriate.I think I have enabled SMB on linux, but I can not seem to get the finder to connect.smb://yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy which is not a valid address gets me nowhere.smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is valid and I can not connect because name or password is incorrect.smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/html where html is the share name also fails.SMBClient may be useful for debugging.Ok, it seems to be a firewall/selinux issue. When I turn those off I can connect.System Settings:Security Level:

1. Firewall Options: Disable
2. Enabled, Enforcing Current

Something broke. Ok, I needed smb://192.168.1.22/html in the dialog.

One of the most difficult data recovery tasks I’ve done in my career.

IEEE Standard Z39-18-1995 was pointed out at work today as a good standard technical report format. I should consider using it for my own reports, as I think I would benefit from a standard look to my work. Using the outline should also make it easier to get to writing the report as I need spend less time worrying about the format.

I’ve been using my Elura 100 in wide screen mode. Now the video that I capture with iMovie is squashed. What to do?

Wide-screen fans will appreciate the Elura 100’s true wide-screen CCD sensor. Though it’s not high definition, it still provides a sharper 16:9 image than sensors that crop the top and bottom to achieve this wide aspect ratio. This native 16:9 support is reflected in the camcorder’s 2.7-inch, 123,000-pixel wide-screen LCD.

The movie is capture in 4:3 and I want 16:9, the conversion is 720×480 -> 720×405.

Looks like I might be able to use Final Cut Express in ‘anamorphic’ capture mode.
Yes, this works.

Now I am dropping frames during capture. See http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305284

I noticed while reading a Webkit blog that the page didn’t scan as well as a Huffpo page I had been reading earlier. The difference in clarity is the font. Now I notice that my site use a font on the less than easy to scan side. Time for an update.

I keep thinking about Naur’s presentation, as well as Leonid Perlovsky’s course on neural networks and intellect. I may not be able to get a computer to think for itself, but I may be able to get a computer to help me focus on what I am thinking about. In some ways Google does something similar, but it is not very far beyond simple word association.