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Linux Got Game: Tremulous

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:09:00 +0000

I had a lot of free time last weekend so I had a chance to annihilate stuff by playing another first person shooter game on my Linux box. The game is called Tremulous and it's not a typical FPS since it incorporates elements of real-time strategy that makes it even more fun and challenging.

Some Facts:

Tremulous started out as a modification of the popular game Quake III Arena. The gameplay is generally inspired by the Quake II modification Gloom, although they absolutely share no content.

After the release of the Quake III Arena source code under GPL in August of 2005, the developers decided to rework Tremulous into a stand alone, free and open source game. The current version (1.1.0) was unleashed on March 31, 2006 and is based upon the ioquake3 Quake III source port.

Though it's been a long time since the last Tremulous release, development is going on for the 1.2 version, which will be out soon.

Gameplay:

Tremulous is a deathmatch between humans and aliens. Players can choose to be either side with each has its own strengths and weaknesses. They must build and protect a base, which is essential for their survival, consisting of structures that provide various functions, the most essential of which being the ability to respawn. The winner destroys all enemy spawn points and eliminates all members of the enemy team before they are able to rebuild them while the loser is simply annihilated.

The humans are technologically well equipped. They start out stronger, but give less damage when using the default weapon. However, the human bases can feature powerful arsenals of turrets that can destroy even the strongest alien species. Humans are rewarded "credits" for every kill or damage that they can give to an alien. Credits are also given every two minutes just for staying alive. The credits are used to buy armor, weapons, tools, etc.

The aliens are pesky and fearsome bugs. They have an array of structures, including the main building called the “Overmind”. The aliens begin with low health, but can do plenty of damage. Aliens are rewarded frags for kills, and they use these to evolve into stronger classes, including the deadly tyrant. Like humans, aliens need their stuff to evolve to the next level.

Sounds and Graphics:

Though not the best when compared to today's games, the graphics are quite good with cool particle effects, and nice textures. The accompanying background music and sound effects are just enough to get you all pumped up.

Conclusion:

The not-so-stunning graphics was not a hindrance for me to fully enjoy Tremulous as its gameplay is really awesome. It's good to know that those with older computer machines can still play a very exciting and like I said challenging fps + rts game as its recommended system requirements are less demanding. I definitely can't wait for the next version of Tremulous.

Here is how I rate Tremulous 1.1:

Sounds and Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Total: 7.5/10

To those of you who want to try Tremulous and are using any of the popular Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, and Mandriva, it's probably available in their respective repositories so look for it there. Otherwise, you can get it HERE.

DOS to UNIX/Linux Translation (DOS to Linux Cheat Sheet)

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:57:00 +0000

The following are some of the most commonly used MS-DOS commands and its equivalent in Linux. This cheat sheet is for those of you who have just switched from Windows to Linux and are just getting acquainted with the terminal. Take note that these commands usually have a number of options so be sure to check out the man page.

I hope some of you will find this basic DOS to UNIX/Linux cheat sheet useful:

To know more about each command, read its associated man page. Like for example, type man cp at the shell prompt to read about the "cp" command.

Free and Open Source Bioinformatics Software for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:55:00 +0000

Bioinformatics, as defined by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (BCBI), is the field of science in which biology, computer science, and information technology merge into a single discipline.

Bioinformatics is being used largely in the field of human genome research by the Human Genome Project, which has been determining the sequence of the entire human genome (about 3 billion base pairs) and is essential in using genomic information to understand diseases. It is also used largely for the identification of new molecular targets for drug discovery.

To aid scientists as well as students in their analysis and study, I have a here a list of some of the most capable free and open source Bioinformatics software for Linux:

Bioclipse
Based on Java, the Bioclipse project is a visual platform for chemo- and bioinformatics based on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP). As any RCP application, it uses a plugin architecture that inherits basic functionality and visual interfaces from Eclipse, such as help system, software updates, preferences, cross-platform deployment etc. Via theseplugins, Bioclipse provides functionality for chemo- and bioinformatics, and extension points that easily can be extended by other, possibly proprietary, plugins to provide additional functionality. The first stable release of Bioclipse includes a CDK plugin to provide a chemoinformatic backend, a Jmol plugin for 3D-visualization, and a BioJava plugin for sequence analysis.

BioRails
BioRails is a biological information management system designed to support non-routine biological research such as in vivo and pharmacology studies. It facilitates the capture of structured end-point data that can be queried and data mined in a relational database. In addition, BioRails has a content management system to support the capture of notes and files that can be used to generate electronically signed defensible documents. BioRails is commercially backed but it is available for free.

UGENE
UGENE is cross-platform bioinformatics software that also works on Mac and Windows.
It has modular structure and almost all its functionality comes within plugins. Internally UGENE is designed with support of parallelism to make profit from using multicore computers. Every computational task in UGENE is performed in the background and does not block user interaction with the visual interface. Some of its features are:
* Visual representation of annotated DNA or protein sequences
* Chromatograms visualization
* Integrated 3D viewer for files in PDB and MMDB formats
* Integrated protein secondary structure prediction algorigthms based on GOR IV and PSIPRED

If you know of other free and open source Bioinformatics software for Linux, please share them with us via comment.

Weekly Ten (11-02-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:31:00 +0000

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. What Is Ultimately Possible in Physics?
This essay uses insights from studying the computational universe to explore questions about possibility and impossibility in the physical universe and in physical theories. It explores the ultimate limits of technology and of human experience, and their relation to the features and consequences of ultimate theories of physics.
More @ stephenwolfram.com

2. NASA moon-excavation robot competition digs deep
Student teams use automation and robotics technologies to design and build robotic machines to excavate simulated lunar soil (known as "regolith") last week. And the goal is leave your opponents in the dust — literally.
More @ automationmag.com

3. A ghooooulish Googleween
When it comes to holidays, Halloween is one of our favorites. You get candy corn, creepy crawlies, ghosts and goblins, blustery weather and the goopy joys of pumpkin carving all crammed into one glorious fall fun-fest.
More @ Googleblog

4. Head-mounted computer with Linux, WiFi

More @ HackaDay

5. Windows 7 Upgrade Struggle Continues
Windows 7 is now generally available and deals are everywhere, so you should start cranking on those upgrades or researching which new PC to buy, right? Well, not so fast.
More @ PCWorld

6. How To Spam Facebook Like A Pro: An Insider’s Confession
Did you know how Mark Zuckerberg supported Facebook in the early days, before he got venture funding? Casino ads. And how about those advertisers who were making over $100,000 a day selling Acai Berry and other weight loss products – they are friends of mine, pioneers of new advertising channels.
More @ TechCrunch

7. A Taste of Android's Freshly Baked Eclair
Android 2.0, nicknamed "Eclair," will make its big entrance on the Droid next month, and other handsets are sure to follow. Version 2.0 brings a set of new features to the table, including native support for Microsoft Exchange. However, the wide-open Android ecosystem may be prone to fragmentation as the underlying platform grows in strength and ability.
More @ LinuxInsider

8. Gavari's Attempt to Reinvent the Violin Will Be an Uphill Battle

More @ Gizmodo

9. Automatic Dialer With Asterisk And GNUDialer
This document describes the installation of the Automatic Dialer GNUDialer, this is an alternative dialer to VICIDial, with more lightweight scripts and a far more easier GUI, it uses Asterisk and MySQL for its operation.
More @ howtoforge.com

10. Replacing the Office Chair with an Exercise Ball
Last week I replaced my office chair with an exercise ball. I actually bought two, one for the home and one for the office. I was looking for more ways to do something about my sedentary lifestyle as a desk monkey.
More @ baron.vc

Motorola DROID: A Sleek and Powerful Android Phone

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:27:00 +0000

After Motorola Dext (CLIQ), one of the leading handset makers will release another Android-powered phone that is appropriately called the DROID. It is poised to become the most advanced Android device on the market with its high-end specifications and extra features.

The Motorola DROID has a beautiful 3.7 inch multi-touch display (854x480 resolution) which is rather huge when compared to other smartphones, and it has a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. It runs on Android OS version 2.0 (Eclair) and its processor is similar to that of Palm Pre, which is a Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 with a clock speed of 550MHz. It has a separate PowerVR GPU, 256MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM.

Other Important Tech Specs:
Storage: 512MB onboard flash memory (expandable through MicroSDHC slot);
Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Dual band CDMA2000/EV-DO Rev. A 800 1900 MHz;
Camera: 5.0 megapixel with auto focus and flash;
Power: 1400 mAh Internal rechargeable removable lithium-ion polymer battery;
Other features: digital magnetometer, accelerometer, and proximity sensors;

Web browsing on Motorola DROID

The Motorola DROID is the first Android 2.0 device, and like other excellent competing smartphones it is being advertised as an iPhone-killer. With its sleek look and powerful features, I think it could become as successful as the RAZR and possibly surpass iPhone’s popularity. But it will depend on whether or not its OS can really deliver the goods.

Firefox 3.6 Beta Released, Loaded With New Features

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Firefox 3.6 "Beta 1" is now available for testers to download. This version utilizes the Gecko 1.9.2 web-rendering engine and contains tons of enhancements for users as well as web developers. If you are using the latest stable version of Firefox and want to know what's in store for you in version 3.6, here is a list of features and improvements of this development release:

* The add-on Personas is now built in allowing the users to change the Firefox themes or appearance with a single click.
* Users will now be alerted if the plugins are out of date to keep them safe.
* Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
* Support for the WOFF font format.
* Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.

For web and add-on developers, support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies are implemented. For more details, see HERE.

If you want to download Firefox 3.6 Beta 1, you can get it HERE. But expect some instability and be aware that at this point most add-ons are still incompatible with this version.

How To Enable Root (Super) User in Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:46:00 +0000

If you are new to Ubuntu and have been using other distros like Fedora or openSUSE before, then you may find it frustrating that when you issue the "su" command it will result to authentication failure.

By default, access to root account password is disabled in Ubuntu for added security measures. But if you really want to enable root (super) user in Ubuntu just like you can on other Linux distributions, you can do it in two ways.

One way it to set a root user password by:

$ sudo passwd root
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully

After this, you will now be able to successfully use the "su" command:

$ su -
Password:
#

You can always disable the root user password through this command:

$ sudo passwd -l root

The second and probably the simplest method of enabling root user in Ubuntu is by executing either of the following:

$ sudo -s

or

$ sudo su -

That's about it. I hope some of you out there will find this simple tip on how to enable the root (super) user in Ubuntu useful.

Top 10 Firefox Themes (Skins) for Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:21:00 +0000

Halloween is just around the corner so you may want to pimp your desktop a bit to suit the occasion. A good way would be to change the look of your Firefox web browser to make it a little bit spooky. That can be easily done by first installing the Firefox add-on called Personas, and then choosing or wearing the skin that you like.

Currently, there are about 90 themes available but we will get to that later on. In the meantime, here are my top 10 favorite Firefox Personas Halloween themes that you should check out first:

Halloween Cuties

Get it HERE

Spooky Halloween Tree

Get it HERE

Halloween Haunt

Get it HERE

Spooky Delights

Get it HERE

Halloween Silhouettes

Get it HERE

Halloween Smileys

Get it HERE

Halloween Glow

Get it HERE

Autumn Wind

Get it HERE

All Hallows Eve

Get it HERE

Halloween Foxkeh

Get it HERE

The full gallery of Firefox Halloween themes can be found HERE.

On a related note, I've been looking for some Google Chrome themes for Halloween but sad to say I can't find any.

On another related note, you can also check out our collection of scary tux icons that you may like.

Weekly Ten (10-26-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:04:00 +0000

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Billionaire Aids Charity That Aided Him
Thirty years ago today, Sergey Brin, a 6-year-old Soviet boy facing an uncertain future, arrived in the United States with the help of the society.
More @ NYTimes.com

2. White House opens Web site programming to public
The online-savvy administration on Saturday switched to open-source code for http://www.whitehouse.gov - meaning the programming language is written in public view, available for public use and able for people to edit.
More @ Physorg

3. Darl Is Out, Farewell Master Gamer
Darl McBride, to the glee of many, is out of a job. I think this signals the real end of all The SCO Group litigation, because I think Mr. McBride was hired specifically to litigate rather than run a software company.
More @ LinuxToday

4. Ps3 laptop courtesy of Ben Heck

More @ HackaDay

5. Hasta la Vista, baby: Ars reviews Windows 7
With much fanfare and even a few parties, Windows 7 has arrived. In this extensive review, Peter Bright dives deep into Microsoft's new OS offering to see what's new, what's still the same, and whether it's worth upgrading.
More @ ArsTechnica

6. Facebook Makeover: The Good, the Bad, and the Backlash
Facebook gave its homepage a makeover ...again. Last Friday the social networking site quietly rolled out some fairly significant changes to the way information is displayed on your homepage.
More @ PCWorld

7. Apple shuts down ZFS open source project
Apple's efforts to support the development of ZFS, an advanced file system originally created by Sun, were officially terminated today in a notice posted by MacOS Forge.
More @ AppleInsider

8. Pentax's limited edition Korejanai K-x DSLR reminds us of Harlequin VW Golf

More @ Engadget

9. Inside the Nobel Prize: How a CCD Works
This year’s Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded, with the inventors of the CCD getting recognition for the invention which enabled modern digital photography. It has taken a while: Whilst the invention took just one hour, the prize took 40 years to arrive.
More @ Wired

10. 15 Bogeymen From Around The World
The bogeyman is a legendary ghost-like monster. The bogeyman has no specific appearance and conceptions of the monster can vary drastically even from household to household within the same community; in many cases he simply has no set appearance in the mind of a child, but is just an amorphous embodiment of terror.
More @ Listverse

Barnes & Noble nook: Yet Another Linux-powered eBook Reader

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:51:00 +0000

Another exciting addition to the long list of Linux-powered eBook readers is the recently introduced nook. Developed by Barnes & Noble (the largest book retailer in the United States), nook is the first electronic book reader that is based on Google Android. It will surely go head to head with the Amazon Kindle as it is loaded with excellent features and over one million titles to choose from.

The nook will include Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity, a 6-inch E Ink display, a separate, 3.5-inch color touchscreen LCD that serves as the primary input device, a 2GB built-in storage, and an expandable microSD slot that can be loaded with up to 16GB card.

One unique feature of the nook is the "LendMe" feature. Some books are licensed by their publishers for sharing, which will allow the purchaser to share a book once, with one other user, for up to two weeks.

The nook is scheduled to be released by November 30, 2009 and will be priced at US$259. Amazon is now giving $20 rebates on those who purchased the International version of the Kindle.

For those of you who are planning to buy an eBook reader and are torn between nook and Kindle, a comparison of the two can be found HERE.

Possibly the Funniest Programming Joke Ever

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:55:00 +0000

I know it is not yet time for our annual Christmas humor, however I feel like sharing a joke today. --A joke that is possibly one of the funniest programming jokes of all time.

Maybe some of you have already heard or read about this one because it's rather old, but just to relive the fun, here it goes:

The Evolution of a Programmer by Anonymous

*High School/Jr.High

10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
20 END

*First year in College

program Hello(input, output)
begin
writeln('Hello World')
end.

*Senior year in College

(defun hello
(print
(cons 'Hello (list 'World))))

*New professional

#include
void main(void)
{
char *message[] = {"Hello ", "World"};
int i;

for(i = 0; i <>
#include

class string
{
private:
int size;
char *ptr;

string() : size(0), ptr(new char[1]) { ptr[0] = 0; }

string(const string &s) : size(s.size)
{
ptr = new char[size + 1];
strcpy(ptr, s.ptr);
}

~string()
{
delete [] ptr;
}

friend ostream &operator <<(ostream &, const string &); string &operator=(const char *); }; ostream &operator<<(ostream &stream, const string &s) { return(stream << operator="(const" size =" strlen(chrs);" ptr =" new" str = "Hello World">);
importheader();
importheader();
importheader("pshlo.h");
importheader("shlo.hxx");
importheader("mycls.hxx");

// needed typelibs
importlib("actimp.tlb");
importlib("actexp.tlb");
importlib("thlo.tlb");

[
uuid(2573F891-CFEE-101A-9A9F-00AA00342820),
aggregatable
]
coclass CHello
{
cotype THello;
};
};

#include "ipfix.hxx"

extern HANDLE hEvent;

class CHello : public CHelloBase
{
public:
IPFIX(CLSID_CHello);

CHello(IUnknown *pUnk);
~CHello();

HRESULT __stdcall PrintSz(LPWSTR pwszString);

private:
static int cObjRef;
};

#include
#include
#include
#include
#include "thlo.h"
#include "pshlo.h"
#include "shlo.hxx"
#include "mycls.hxx"

int CHello::cObjRef = 0;

CHello::CHello(IUnknown *pUnk) : CHelloBase(pUnk)
{
cObjRef++;
return;
}

HRESULT __stdcall CHello::PrintSz(LPWSTR pwszString)
{
printf("%ws
", pwszString);
return(ResultFromScode(S_OK));
}

CHello::~CHello(void)
{

// when the object count goes to zero, stop the server
cObjRef--;
if( cObjRef == 0 )
PulseEvent(hEvent);

return;
}

#include
#include
#include "pshlo.h"
#include "shlo.hxx"
#include "mycls.hxx"

HANDLE hEvent;

int _cdecl main(
int argc,
char * argv[]
) {
ULONG ulRef;
DWORD dwRegistration;
CHelloCF *pCF = new CHelloCF();

hEvent = CreateEvent(NULL, FALSE, FALSE, NULL);

// Initialize the OLE libraries
CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_MULTITHREADED);

CoRegisterClassObject(CLSID_CHello, pCF, CLSCTX_LOCAL_SERVER,
REGCLS_MULTIPLEUSE, &dwRegistration);

// wait on an event to stop
WaitForSingleObject(hEvent, INFINITE);

// revoke and release the class object
CoRevokeClassObject(dwRegistration);
ulRef = pCF->Release();

// Tell OLE we are going away.
CoUninitialize();

return(0); }

extern CLSID CLSID_CHello;
extern UUID LIBID_CHelloLib;

CLSID CLSID_CHello = { /* 2573F891-CFEE-101A-9A9F-00AA00342820 */
0x2573F891,
0xCFEE,
0x101A,
{ 0x9A, 0x9F, 0x00, 0xAA, 0x00, 0x34, 0x28, 0x20 }
};

UUID LIBID_CHelloLib = { /* 2573F890-CFEE-101A-9A9F-00AA00342820 */
0x2573F890,
0xCFEE,
0x101A,
{ 0x9A, 0x9F, 0x00, 0xAA, 0x00, 0x34, 0x28, 0x20 }
};

#include
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include "pshlo.h"
#include "shlo.hxx"
#include "clsid.h"

int _cdecl main(
int argc,
char * argv[]
) {
HRESULT hRslt;
IHello *pHello;
ULONG ulCnt;
IMoniker * pmk;
WCHAR wcsT[_MAX_PATH];
WCHAR wcsPath[2 * _MAX_PATH];

// get object path
wcsPath[0] = '\0';
wcsT[0] = '\0';
if( argc > 1) {
mbstowcs(wcsPath, argv[1], strlen(argv[1]) + 1);
wcsupr(wcsPath);
}
else {
fprintf(stderr, "Object path must be specified\n");
return(1);
}

// get print string
if(argc > 2)
mbstowcs(wcsT, argv[2], strlen(argv[2]) + 1);
else
wcscpy(wcsT, L"Hello World");

printf("Linking to object %ws\n", wcsPath);
printf("Text String %ws\n", wcsT);

// Initialize the OLE libraries
hRslt = CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_MULTITHREADED);

if(SUCCEEDED(hRslt)) {

hRslt = CreateFileMoniker(wcsPath, &pmk);
if(SUCCEEDED(hRslt))
hRslt = BindMoniker(pmk, 0, IID_IHello, (void **)&pHello);

if(SUCCEEDED(hRslt)) {

// print a string out
pHello->PrintSz(wcsT);

Sleep(2000);
ulCnt = pHello->Release();
}
else
printf("Failure to connect, status: %lx", hRslt);

// Tell OLE we are going away.
CoUninitialize();
}

return(0);
}

*Apprentice Hacker

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$msg="Hello, world.\n";
if ($#ARGV >= 0) {
while(defined($arg=shift(@ARGV))) {
$outfilename = $arg;
open(FILE, ">" . $outfilename) || die "Can't write $arg: $!\n";
print (FILE $msg);
close(FILE) || die "Can't close $arg: $!\n";
}
} else {
print ($msg);
}
1;

*Experienced Hacker

#include
#define S "Hello, World\n"
main(){exit(printf(S) == strlen(S) ? 0 : 1);}

*Seasoned Hacker

% cc -o a.out ~/src/misc/hw/hw.c
% a.out

*Guru Hacker

% echo "Hello, world."

*New Manager

10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
20 END

*Middle Manager

mail -s "Hello, world." bob@b12
Bob, could you please write me a program that prints "Hello, world."?
I need it by tomorrow.
^D

*Senior Manager

% zmail jim
I need a "Hello, world." program by this afternoon.

*Chief Executive

% letter
letter: Command not found.
% mail
To: ^X ^F ^C
% help mail
help: Command not found.
% damn!
!: Event unrecognized
% logout

LOL!

Credit: ariel.com.au

Firefox for iPhone and Android Phones

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:44:00 +0000

John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, told technology blogger Om Malik that they will release an application for the iPhone a few weeks from now and that it will be "really exciting". No further details have been said yet so we are left guessing.

It could be similar to Fennec, a mobile version of Firefox web browser that is designed for smaller devices, mobile phones and PDAs. A beta version of Fennec is already available on Nokia Maemo based devices like the N900. However, Mr. Malik believes that the app could be an implementation of the synchronizing service called Weave.

The big question is this: will Apple approve a Firefox web browser app for the iPhone?

We all know what happened to Google Voice and Google Latitude. Google Latitude was rejected from the iTunes App Store because Apple was worried that it would replace the built-in Maps app.

If Apple will miraculously approve a Firefox web browser application for the iPhone then a lot of people will be happy (including me) since it will surely be a good alternative to the mobile version of Safari.

In related news, Mozilla CEO has clearly stated that they are now developing a Firefox web browser specifically for Android phones. It will come with add-ons, desktop synchronization, awesomeBar-style navigation and possibly other innovative features that will change the way we surf the web on our mobile devices.

Useless Linux Terminal Commands

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Not long ago, I have listed here some useful Linux terminal commands and those that I described as deadly. This time, I decided to gather some commands that I think have no practical use. I know it sounds interesting but you may disagree with me on some of the commands that I'll list here as you may find a few of them useful. We can however agree to disagree as long as you explain to us why or how you find them handy.

So without any more delay, here are several useless Linux terminal commands:

clear command

The clear command simply clears the terminal screen. I don't find it useful since hitting CTRL-L is the quickest way of clearing the terminal screen.

rev command

The rev command as described on its man page is a utility that copies the specified files to the standard output, reversing the order of characters in every line. If no files are specified, the standard input is read.

As an example, I typed the sentence “Linux is fun” after the rev command, and here's the result:

$ rev
Linux is fun
nuf si xuniL

I've heard that rev has been used a long time ago in translating from or to languages that can be read from right to left. But now that the modern terminals can be set to display different languages correctly, I think rev has no practical use.

vdir command

The vdir command has the same output as the commonly used ls -lb. It lists the directory contents in alphabetical order along with information about the files. See the following examples:

$ vdir
total 60424
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 111295 2009-07-20 22:46 img_0001.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 384081 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0011.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 451303 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0013.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 468926 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0017.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 443045 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0019.jpg

$ ls -lb
total 60424
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 111295 2009-07-20 22:46 img_0001.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 384081 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0011.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 451303 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0013.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 468926 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0017.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 jun jun 443045 2009-07-20 22:45 img_0019.jpg

ul command

Description from the man page: The ul utility reads the named files (or standard input if none are given) and translates occurrences of underscores to the sequence that indicates underlining for the terminal in use, as specified by the environment variable TERM.

$ cat hello.txt
hello_world

$ ul hello.txt
hello_world

The output is the same as using the cat command. "ul" was utilized back then on making underlined text readable, but at present I think it has become useless.

If you have other useless commands to add, please share them with us via comment.

Weekly Ten (10-19-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:51:00 +0000

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Natural Gas Changes the Energy Map
Vast amounts of the clean-burning fossil fuel have been discovered in shale deposits, setting off a gas rush. But how it will affect our energy use is still uncertain.
More @ TechnologyReview

2. Miyamoto: New Mario Tests Your Hard-Core Gaming Chops
Despite Nintendo’s emphasis on accessible gaming for newbies, the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be a challenge, says Shigeru Miyamoto.
More @ Wired

3. Managing your reputation through search results
A few years ago I couldn't wait to get married. Because I was in love, yeah, but more importantly, so that I could take my husband's name and people would stop getting that ridiculous picture from college as a top result when they searched for me on Google.
More @ Googleblog

4. NES processor cloned on a FPGA

More @ HackaDay

5. I'll Use Linux When $App Magically Appears
I'm sure you've seen this is as often as I have, even from supposed Free Software advocates: "I can't switch completely to Linux now because I still need this $foo application. When a free alternative appears then I'll switch."
More @ LinuxToday

6. Shopping with AR
You are sitting in a café reading the newspaper and there’s a QR code on the page near an article which you found interesting. You’ve never seen this box symbol in a newspaper before but, since you already know the general purpose of these funny black and white checkered boxes, you ask yourself what this is about.
More @ OreillyRadar

7. FreeBSD adds support for Snow Leopard's Grand Central Dispatch
Apple's Grand Central Dispatch technology, which debuted in Snow Leopard as a mechanism for optimizing parallelism across multiple cores and processors, has now been ported to FreeBSD.
More @ AppleInsider

8. Maldives Government Meets Underwater to Show Effects of Global Warming

More @ Gizmodo

9. The State of Solid State Hard Drives
I've seen a lot of people play The Computer Performance Shell Game poorly. They overinvest in a fancy CPU, while pairing it with limited memory, a plain jane hard drive, or a generic video card. For most users, that fire-breathing quad-core CPU is sitting around twiddling its virtual thumbs most of the time.
More @ CodingHorror

10. Coding Simplicity: How to Avoid Feature Creep in Your Life
There’s a concept in programming called “feature creep” — when a software developer continually adds one feature after another because “wouldn’t it be nice” and “why not” and “isn’t it cool” and “some users asked for it”.
More @ Zenhabits

Firefox Logo Painted Using Firefox Browser

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:50:00 +0000

One of the main features of Firefox 3.7 is its advanced support for multi-touch enabled devices. During the MozCamp and JRSL event in Chile, Marcio Galli painted the Firefox logo using a development build of Firefox, a touch screen laptop, a simple drawing application, and his finger. Here's the video of demo:

The drawing application as shown on the video was written in JavaScript utilizing less than 70 lines of code. To illustrate how simple the app is, here are most of the codes used:

var canvasctx = null;

function initCanvas(ww,hh)
{
gCanvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
var w = ww;
var h = hh;
gCanvas.style.width = w + "px";
gCanvas.style.height = h + "px";
gCanvas.width = w;
gCanvas.height = h;
canvasctx = gCanvas.getContext("2d");
canvasctx.clearRect(0, 0, w, h);
// imageData = gCtx.getImageData( 0,0,320,240);
}

var canvasctx = null;

function load() {

initCanvas(1200,800);

document.multitouchData=true;

}

gColor="0,0,0";

function color(rr,gg,bb) {
gColor = rr+","+gg+","+bb;
}

function listenTo(event) {
canvasctx.fillStyle='rgba('+gColor+',.1)';
canvasctx.beginPath();
canvasctx.arc(event.clientX, event.clientY, 20, 0, Math.PI*2, 1);
canvasctx.fill();
canvasctx.closePath();
}

document.addEventListener("MozTouchMove", listenTo, false);

If you own a touch-screen computer or laptop running Linux, Windows, or Mac, you can test the drawing application HERE. But first you have to download and install the development version of Firefox 3.7, which you can get HERE.

The stable version of Firefox 3.7 that will have full multi-touch support might be released in May-June 2010. It will utilize Gecko 1.9.3 engine.

Downloading Torrent Files via the Linux Terminal

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:41:00 +0000

On my post entitled "How to use BitTorrent in Linux" I've taught you the basics of downloading torrent files using Transmission, a popular BitTorrent client with GUI (Graphical User Interface). This time, I will show you how to use an ultra-lightweight text-based ncurses BitTorrent client --rTorrent.

I know downloading torrent files via the Linux terminal sounds exciting so here we go...

If you are using Ubuntu, you can install rTorrent via Synaptic Package Manager, or with this command:

$ sudo apt-get install rtorrent

You can also get rTorrent HERE.

Now, we will start using rTorrent. But first, download a '.torrent' file. Let's say you got a file named free.torrent and saved it on the Desktop. You can download it through this command:

$ rtorrent Desktop/free.torrent

The downloads (finished and unfinished) will be saved at /home/username by default.

rTorrent main screen

That would be enough to get you downloading torrent files via the Linux terminal in no time. But if you want to learn some of the more advanced features of rTorrent, don't rely on its man page because you will be disappointed. Instead, use this cheat sheet:

Adding and removing torrents
Backspace -- Add torrent using an URL or file path. Use tab to view directory content and do auto-complete. Also, wildcards can be used. For example: ~/torrent/*
Return/Enter -- Same as backspace, except the torrent remains inactive. (Use ^s to activate)
CTRL-O -- Set new download directory for selected torrent. Only works if torrent has not yet been activated.
CTRL-S -- Start download. Runs hash first unless already done.
CTRL-D -- Stop an active download, or remove a stopped download.
CTRL-R -- Initiate hash check of torrent. Without starting to download/upload.

Throttling
a/s/d -- Increase the upload throttle by 1/5/50 KB.
z/x/c -- Decrease the upload throttle by 1/5/50 KB.
A/S/D -- Increase the download throttle by 1/5/50 KB.
Z/X/C -- Decrease the download throttle by 1/5/50 KB.

Navigating
Main View Keys:
right -- Switch to Download View.
CTRL-R -- Initiate hash check of torrent.
+/- -- Change priority of torrent.
l -- View log. Exit by pressing the space-bar.
1 -- Show all downloads.
2 -- Show all downloads, ordered by name.
3 -- Show started downloads.
4 -- Show stopped downloads.
5 -- Show complete downloads.
6 -- Show incomplete downloads.
7 -- Show hashing downloads.
8 -- Show seeding downloads.

Download View Keys
right -- Switch to selected view.
left -- Switch to view selection or back to main view.
1/2 -- Adjust max uploads.
3/4 -- Adjust min peers.
5/6 -- Adjust max peers.
p -- Display peer list.
o -- Display torrent info.
i -- Display file list.
u -- Display tracker list.
t/T -- Initiate tracker request. Use capital T to force the request, ignoring the "min interval" set by the tracker.

Peer list View Keys
left -- Switch to view selection.
right -- Show file details.
space -- Change the file priority; applies recursively when done on a directory.
* -- Change the priority of all files.
/ -- Collapse directories. While collapsed, press right to expand the selected directory.

Tracker list View Keys
left -- Switch to view selection.
* -- Enable/disable tracker.
space -- Rotate trackers in a group.

Performous: A Challenging and Fun Karaoke Software for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:14:00 +0000

I found another cool and fun karaoke software for Linux that I would like to share to everyone. It is called Performous and it's so far one of the best karaoke program that I've tried.

Performous (formerly known as UltraStar-NG) started as a clone of SingStar, a PlayStation music video game. However, recent versions of Performous has become a lot different than SingStar in terms of features like its scrolling notes and precise singing pitch display as a wave drawn on screen in addition to the lyrics. These will allow the players to sing without interruptions and to easily correct their singing pitch to hit the notes precisely.

What I really like most about Performous is its scoring system that makes it even more fun. As explained on its project website, the game records your voice via the microphone and it will undergo real-time FFT analysis. --This analysis reveals which frequency bands contain audio (peaks). Further test is used to find out the exact audio frequencies inside each band, and to combine base frequencies and their harmonics into single tones. Finally, some temporal (over time) filtering is applied to the detected tones to smooth out the output.

Performous Practice Mode

Regular notes (light-blue color) and Freestyle notes (with "FREESTYLE" text) are 1x points, while Golden notes (gold color) are 2x points.

The perfect score is 10000 but they say it's unreachable. --Maybe I'll reach that (hehe). Typical scores are in the range of 2000-9000.

The singing octave is not important, because as long as you get the right note in any octave, you will get full points. Singing near the correct note likewise gives some points, but the amount of points per second decreases as you get farther from the right tone. Singing within the right semitone consistently gives full points, so you may actually be off by a quartertone and still get the points.

If you are still looking for karaoke software for Linux, I highly recommend that you try Performous. --You can get it HERE.

I easily installed Performous via Software Center on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala and downloaded a few songs HERE. I then extracted the songs to /usr/share/games/ultrastar/songs.

So here I was singing the Free Software Song :-)

Weekly Ten (10-12-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:36:00 +0000

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Why Cloud Storage Use Could Be Limited in Enterprises
It seems like just about every day brings with it a new cloud storage product announcement from vendors big and small, but the reality is that beyond enterprise firewalls, cloud storage's potential is limited.
More @ EnterpriseStorageForum

2. 35 Smart Logos With Second Thought To Make You look Twice
One more logo showcase, but in this one you really will need to look twice! Every logo is carefully picked with second thought and I think such logos are really hard to create. Get inspired, hopefully this article will help you to look different at logo creation – it’s not always just about typography, good looking font and nice animation.
More @ 1stWebDesigner

3. New in Google Squared: quality improvements, sorting and exporting
Today we're launching a number of improvements to the amount and quality of information you can find with Google Squared, as well as new tools to sort and export the data.
More @ Googleblog

4. Analog Space Invaders with human controller

More @ HackaDay

5. Microsoft Developing a 128-bit Windows
I'm still using 32-bit distros and doing fine, though I know that 64-bit systems have a lot of practical value and are widely used. They handle larger files, more memory, and move more data, which speeds up demanding tasks like 3D video rendering, audio encoding, games, and databases.
More @ LinuxToday

6. Apple again causes worldwide NAND flash shortage
Demand for flash memory has outstripped supply for major manufacturers, and the reason once again is said to be the popularity of Apple devices like the iPhone and iPod touch.
More @ AppleInsider

7. Windows 7 Called Slower than Vista
Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system boots slower than its unloved predecessor, Windows Vista, a PC tune-up developer said today.
More @ PCWorld

8. Segway Concept Emboldens Mall Security With Aggressive Lines, Comfy Seats

More @ Gizmodo

9. Attack of the Droids
The Android mobile software platform has been on a roll this week. It scored its second Sprint phone, it made big plans with Verizon, and rumor has it even Dell is interested in putting it on an upcoming smartphone, which could give it an inroad to AT&T.
More @ LinuxInsider

10. How to Become a Design Genius: Take Time Off. Lots of It.
Stefan Sagmeister is one of the most talented graphic designers working today, so he knows a little bit about keeping his creativity flowing. His trick? Taking really, really long vacations. In fact, every seven years, he takes an entire year off.
More @ FastCompanyBlog

25 Awesome GIMP Brush Sets (Download 1000+ FREE Brushes)

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:53:00 +0000

On my sort of GIMP vs. Photoshop post, a lot of people through comments have expressed that GIMP is highly capable graphics design/editing software that can be used professionally. You just have to learn how to use it to harness its true potential.

To help you further enhance the functionality of GIMP, I have here a huge collection of awesome, high-quality brushes that can be utilized for whatever projects you may have. But before that, let me show you how you can install these brushes on Linux.

Installing GIMP brushes on Linux is pretty easy. Just go to your /home folder and show hidden files by hitting Ctrl+H. Then, find the GIMP directory (mine is .gimp-2.6). Open it and find the subfolder that is named "brushes". Extract the downloaded brushes on that folder, and that's about it.

So now, here are some excellent GIMP brushes that you can use for free:

1. 15 Vector Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

2. Galactic Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

3. Grunge Brush Pack 2

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

4. Grunge Brush Set 3

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

5. Floral Part 1

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

6. Floral Part 2

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

7. Pine Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

8. Vector Foliage-Plants

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

9. Moon Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

10. Lightning Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

11. Splatter Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

12. Snowflakes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

13. Mask Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

14. Butterflies

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

15. Doodles 2

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

16. Inner Universe Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

17. Bubbles

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

18. Blood Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

19. Odysee Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

20. Edge Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

21. Water Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

22. Glitter Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

23. Cloudy Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

24. Scratchies

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

25. 1100 GIMP Brushes

DOWNLOAD BRUSH SET HERE

Geeky Way of Putting Your Baby To Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:45:00 +0000

Are you tired of manually rocking your baby to sleep? If your answer is yes, then you should read on.

First, let me show you the code that you will use and break it down a bit.

For Linux users, you can use this simple shell script to automatically open and close the CD-ROM drive of your computer:

#!/bin/sh

while [ 1 = 1 ]
do
#eject CDROM
eject

#pull CDROM tray back in
eject -t
done

When you run that script, the CD tray will close and open forever and it can only be stopped by quitting the program manually.

So how will that help you put your baby to sleep? Just check out this video for some inspiration:

That was pretty cool, right?

For Windows users, this Vbscript will do the job just the same:

Set oWMP = CreateObject(”WMPlayer.OCX.7″ )
Set ArrCDROM = oWMP.cdromCollection
while (1)
wscript.sleep 3000
ArrCDROM.Item(0).Eject
wscript.sleep 3000
ArrCDROM.Item(0).Eject
wend

For those with Mac OS, you may use this:

#!/bin/sh
while true
do
sleep 3; drutil tray open
sleep 3; drutil tray close
done

If you have a more clever way of putting a baby to sleep, perhaps you can share it with us via comment :-)

Ubuntu Cola vs. Windows Cola

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:51:00 +0000

I just found out that there's a brand of soft drink with the same name as the popular Linux distribution. For those of you who don't know this yet, let me introduce you to Ubuntu Cola. Also named after the African philosophy, it is made in the United Kingdom and with a key ingredient that is Fair Trade Certified.

Ubuntu Cola's sugar came from Fairtrade worker cooperatives in Kasinthula, Malawi and Kaleya, Zambia. Farmers who are members of the Fairtrade cooperative at Kasinthula receive an income of $4 a day, which is really good considering that it is six times bigger than the national average income.

Ubuntu Cola can also be purchased in other countries like Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Belgium, France, and you can even buy it online. It is available in 330ml cans, 500ml PET plastic bottles, and 275ml glass bottles. Below is a "real" photo of Ubuntu Cola in can:

I also found out that Microsoft has made its own soft drink brand that's appropriately called Windows Cola. I have no further details regarding Windows Cola but something tells me that it could look like this:

I'm just kidding about Windows Cola, but Ubuntu Cola is real. If you don't believe me, you can visit its website HERE.

Top 10 Google Chrome Artist Themes

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:58:00 +0000

Adding to the list of Google Chrome themes, Google recently introduced a new set of themes that are created by well-known artists, illustrators, architects, musicians, filmmakers, and fashion and interior designers from around the world resulting in a colorful combination of art and technology. I think the artwork really added life to the browser and users could pick whichever suit their personality.

Currently, there are about 95 artist themes for Google Chrome but they are still looking forward to add some more. As of now, here are some of my favorites:

Tom Sachs

LukasHudec

Wes Craven

Vivienne Westwood

Anita Kunz

Dolce&Gabbana

Donna Karan

Marc Ecko

Edward Monkton

Chloe

For Google Chrome users, the gallery of artist themes can be found HERE.

Weekly Ten (10-5-2009)

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:14:00 +0000

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Why Google isn't evil
If knowledge is power, the Google revolution has empowered us all. Never in human history have so many people had access to so much knowledge, made relevant and ordered to their needs.
More @ TechRadar

2. Email: The Variable Reinforcement Machine
How often do you check your email per day? Does checking your email make you more productive or less productive? Oh, sure, we delude ourselves into thinking we're being extra-productive by obsessively checking and responding to our email, but in reality we're attending too frequently to our own desire for gratification and sabotaging our own productivity in the process.
More @ CodingHorror

3. Mark Shuttleworth's Community Has No Women
A few people took Mark Shuttleworth to task in their blogs for making exclusionary and sexist comments in his keynote at last week's LinuxCon. Such as Open Letter to Mark Shuttleworth, A followup on the Shuttleworth incident, and On Keynotes and Apologies Mr. Shuttleworth has remained silent when asked for comment, saying only to watch the video and judge for ourselves.
More @ LinuxToday

4. Growing algae with an Arduino

More @ HackaDay

5. Twitter may come and go, but newspapers are here to stay
Remember when Twitter was huge? Yes, that was a couple of months ago. The cover of Time magazine said Twitter “will change the way we live.” Then I read this week that Twitter was dead.
More @ NevadaAppeal

6. Flash Player Inches Closer to Smartphones
Adobe Systems' Flash Player is getting closer to appearing on smartphones, with Research in Motion adding its BlackBerry to the list of devices that will run the software. Apple's elusive iPhone remains out of reach, however.
More @ PCWorld

7. How To Set Up Apache2 With mod_fcgid And PHP5 On Ubuntu 9.04

This tutorial describes how you can install Apache2 with mod_fcgid and PHP5 on Ubuntu 9.04. mod_fcgid is a compatible alternative to the older mod_fastcgi. It lets you execute PHP scripts with the permissions of their owners instead of the Apache user.
More @ HowtoForge

8. Deja Vu: Apple Sues Someone Because Their Logo Looks Like Fruit

More @ Gizmodo

9. 20 Years of Moving Atoms, One by One
Sometimes genius looks like an elegant equation written in chalk on a blackboard. Sometimes it’s a hodgepodge of wires, canisters and aluminum-foil-wrapped hoses, all held together by shiny bolts.
More @ Wired.com

10. The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior

Our daily lives are often a series of habits played out through the day, a trammeled existence fettered by the slow accretion of our previous actions. But habits can be changed, as difficult as that may seem sometimes.
More @ Zenhabits

Upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:42:00 +0000

The final release version of Ubuntu 9.10, codenamed "Karmic Koala" won't come out until the end of the month but already tons of people are testing the development version, which is currently in Beta. I'm sure a lot of you out there are also thrilled to get your hands on Ubuntu 9.10 because it is filled with great and innovative features.

If you are by now using Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope", you can quickly upgrade to the latest version without having to worry so much about messing things up. Before I'll show you how to do the easy upgrade, let me first take this opportunity to enumerate some of the main features of Ubuntu 9.10:

Improved Boot Performance
To further enhance the boot performance of Ubuntu, they replaced System-V init with Upstart, which handles starting of tasks and services during boot. They are aiming for 10-second start-ups but a report is already telling us that it can boot for a mere 5 seconds with an SSD. Other changes or improvements that are related to the boot-up process include a new splash screen and the use of GRUB 2 by default.

NOTE: Ubuntu strongly suggests to have an Ubuntu 9.10 LiveCD available, or create an Alpha 5 USB startup disk before doing an upgrade just in case something bad happens.

New Graphical Software Manager
The Ubuntu Software Manager, which replaces Add/Remove application, promises to make installing, removing, and updating software a lot more intuitive and user-friendly.

Ubuntu One
Ubuntu One, the web storage application and service will allow users to store and sync files online and between computers. An Ubuntu One account with 2 GB of storage is offered for free while an upgrade to 50 GB will cost $10 a month.

Now if you are already excited, here's how you can upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10:

1. First and foremost, you need to backup all your important files and remember what I've noted above just to be safe.

2. Next, make sure the repository is updated:

sudo apt-get update

3. Open the Update Manager with this command:

sudo update-manager -d

The Update Manager will open and you will now see the upgrade option. If you are brave enough just go on.

4. Now sit back, relax, drink some free beer, or you can simply pray and hope for the best.

If the upgrade process is successful and everything is working well, congratulations and have fun with Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.

Teaching Kids Programming with Free Programming Languages

noreply@blogger.com (jun auza) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:59:00 +0000

Teaching young students or even your own kids to learn or be interested in programming can be really daunting. However, there are free programming languages that are designed to teach children the basic concepts and elements required in traditional programming that you can use to get the job done quite easily. Most of these languages are graphics-based that makes them fun and attractive for young ones or even for adults who are absolute beginner in programming. So enjoy and teach your kids programming with these free programming languages.

Alice

Alice is a creative "drag and drop" 3D programming environment that makes it easy for kids to create simple animations for story-telling, interactive games, or for sharing videos on the web. It can be a great teaching tool since it is designed to introduce students to object-oriented programming and at the same time allows them to learn fundamental programming concepts. In Alice's interactive interface, students drag and drop graphic tiles to create a program, where the instructions correspond to standard statements in a production oriented programming language, such as Java, C++, and C#. Alice is free and open source, and is available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

More about Alice HERE

Scratch

Scratch is an interpreted dynamic visual programming language that has a main goal of teaching programming concepts to children (preferably 8 and up) and letting them create games, videos, and music. The name Scratch was taken from the turntablist technique of scratching, and refers to both the language and its implementation. The resemblance to musical "scratching” is the easy reusability of pieces: in Scratch all the interactive objects, graphics, and sounds can be imported to a new program and combined in new ways. That way, beginners can get fast results and be encouraged to try further. Scratch has a built-in IDE, which produces interpreted code. The code can be run on either Windows, Mac OS X or Linux using the interpreter, or rather, be placed on a website as an embedded object.

More about Scratch HERE

BASIC-256

BASIC-256 (formerly KidBASIC) is an easy to use version of BASIC programming language designed to teach kids the basics of computer programming. It uses traditional control structures like gosub, for/next, and goto, which help children to easily see how program flow-control works. It has a built-in graphics mode that lets them easily draw pictures on screen in minutes, and a set of detailed, easy-to-follow tutorials that introduce programming concepts through fun exercises. BASIC-256 is free and open source and is written using LEX, YACC, and QT (in C++).

More about BASIC-256 HERE

GameKit

GameKit is a high level, object-oriented, imperative language, with branching constructs, specially designed for programming games. It has syntax to some extent similar to the Java/C/C++ family. There is no way to bind arbitrary variables. GameKit comes with an editor, a debugger, resource editors, and was created to teach a variety of computer concepts like artificial intelligence (AI), user interfaces (UI), event driven programming, object oriented programming, game programming, and computer graphics. This language is more advanced than those I've mentioned above, and is not visually oriented or graphics-based.

More about GameKit HERE