Dexroid

All Terrain Vehicle Concept: Inverto

2012-11-12T13:06:00.001+05:30

Guys, I can bet you'll think of it as a plainly weird and baseless idea, but think, what if this could really exist? Inverto is a vehicle with wheels of diameter more than the height of the cabin. This enables the car to be able to function even if it ends up upside down. It is a 4-wheel drive and each wheel has a separate motor.

Technical Specifications

Dimensions

Wheel radius- 1m
Wheel breadth- 30 cm
Cabin length- 3m
Cabin height- 1.5m
Cabin width- 1m
Net width- 1.8m
Net height- 2m
Net length-4.1m
Ground clearance- 25cm(max)

Structure and Functioning

4 wheels, each has its own engine, are controlled electronically by the driver in the cabin.
Fuel is kept in the pipes/support rods of the vehicle and is also inside the tanks near to each engine.
Cabin has a seating capacity of 4-6.
Cabin rotates on the axle according to the slope of the terrain the vehicle is on, so that it is always kept parallel to the ground.
Cabin rotation is facilitated by the mass of the batteries to power the electronics of the vehicle and the arrangement of the seats to keep the center of gravity towards the base of the cabin.
If the incline of the terrain is such that the cabin may touch the terrain, it can be locked to check its motion about the axis.
Cabin has a 3-D display inside connected with the cameras around the vehicle to keep the driver aware of the surroundings.
If somehow the car gets turned upside down, then also, the cabin wont come in contact with the terrain and a skilled person may still drive it.
If the vehicle gets overturned along its length, then cabin can remain upright only. This means, there is no danger to the passengers.
There are strong shock absorbers on either side of the cabin to reduce the effect of terrain on those inside.

Note- The vehicle will also be able to float in water due to the large size of wheels greatly reducing the relative density of the vehicle.

Current Progress

I am working on a small model of it right now, and trying to find out the problems with this concept other than the feasibility of the large wheel size. Also, I have made a video with Bryce and Corel video studio, demonstrating the concept. Hope you are able to understand what is on my mind. Please leave your views in the comments or contact me at: aero31aero@gmail.com

Introducing DexChat!

2012-08-24T14:43:00.001+05:30

View of the sourceforge page of the project

Announcing the launch of my first ever application that stands a slight chance in this world full of such stuff, I'm feeling a bit proud at the attention I'm receiving. The secret? DexChat! That's the name of the app I created. And as the name suggests, it is meant for chatting. Read on to find out more. Many of you must be thinking that what is this app with a weird name like that? This is a small Java application, or rather, two applications, that are meant to facilitate sending and receiving messages directly from one computer to another. The main thing, the whole process does not involve any sort of connection to any third party. You send the message, and it is then received by the Dexchat application on the other computer. Another thing, the project is opensource now. That is to mainly develop it further and transform it into a product that is hassle free and easy to use and configure. And if you want to help us develop it further, feel free to mail me and I'll be sure to reply! Now all that follows is technical stuff. If you want to download it, get it from sourceforge. You'll find documentation and guide on the page itself. Please try to spare some time and write a review or recommend(only if you find it good).

Under the hood:

Resources:

Netbeans IDE 7.1
Swing API
JRE

Flow of control:

Client app sends a message to a server listening on a specified port containing the Username and the message typed by the user.
Server app receives the message and adds it to a string in a specified way of formatting or performs a special action if requested.
Server app then sends the string to the Client app to display it in the chat-box.

The last step is repeated every time a client connects. This same principle is used to refresh the chat-box. Whenever the client sends "refresh" (case insensitive), the server interprets it differently and instead of adding it to the string of messages, it just returns the string of messages(updated) to the client for displaying. Similarly there are several server commands that are implemented this way.

Server commands:

cmd_delchat sets the messages string to "" or simply speaking, deletes the messages.
cmd_gettime returns the time on the server or host machine.
cmd_uptime returns the time at which the server was started.
cmd_getmsg returns the number of messages sent in the session.
cmd_getmsgcur returns the messages sent since last cmd_delchat command.
cmd_online returns the number of online users.
cmd_disconnect is to display a message that the specified user has gone offline.
cmd_connect is to display a message that the specified user has come online.
refresh is used to refresh the chat-box.

Bugs and problems:

The Server app becomes unresponsive to input once the "Start server" button is pressed. Then it only acts to the thread that implements the networking commands. It has to be exited forcefully to shut down the server.
There have been occurrences when the client is unable to connect to server and it hangs. It happened when either the port number or the password was incorrect.
I have not been able to add an automatic refresh function. Now any movement of the mouse is able to refresh the screen but there is not an automatic way for it
Sending messages by pressing the enter key has not been possible for me yet. So I added a button and an alternative way, press "\" followed by any key.
At times, if a client tries to connect to the server with a wrong password, the server also becomes unresponsive to other clients.

For Programmers:

This is to all the Java programmers out there, please help us develop this project further and remove these bugs and problems. Also, any new feature that you'd like to have in this program, you are free to do. The source code is also available on the sourceforge project page. All help is appreciated. Going of to code some more guys! Hope to hear from you, dear reader!

How to create a new partition in Windows 7- Do It Yourself

2012-03-28T11:08:00.002+05:30

So how many of you have bought your computers from a store pre-installed with Windows 7 and think that there are 2 or 3 Hard-drives in our computer (C:, D:, E: drives). Or you think it is some magic that divides your HDD into 3 parts of different sizes? Or that it is geek stuff and we cannot do it? What if I say that it is a matter of 5 minutes? Surprised? Well, its true. In this tutorial I will show you how to create new partitions (Yeah, these drives you see in "My Computer" are called partitions) as well as grow/shrink existing ones.

Step 1: Open Disk Management

Open start menu
Type in the search box,"Disk manage".
Click on the result,"Create and format hard disk partitions".

Step 2: Shrink an existing partition

You need to shrink a partition to make space for a new partition. If you already have enough unpartitioned space, then skip this step.

Right-click on a partition that you want to shrink.
Click on "Shrink Volume..."
Enter the size to shrink and click "Shrink".

Step 3: Create new volume or partition

You will now notice that a new free space has appeared. This is the unpartitioned space. Now we will create a new volume from this space.

Right-click on the Free Space.
Click on "New Simple Volume...".
Click "Next".
Specify the volume size.
Assign a Drive letter (for example, C:).
Click "Next".
Rename the volume.
Click "Next".
Click finish.
Wait a minute.

Your new volume is now ready. If you want to undo what you have just done, follow these steps.

Right click on the volume you just created.
Click "Delete volume..."
Now select the volume you originally reduced.
Right click and select "Extend volume...".
Follow the steps and voila, its done!

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Windows users, better switch to Linux to browse the web

2012-03-24T12:45:00.001+05:30

Hello, all the net surfers out there. This is a must read for those of you who use Windows to browse the web. Almost 87% of our visitors use Windows, or so the Google Analytics say. And most of you might not be aware of the disadvantages of browsing the internet on any Windows machine. So I, Kevin Skywalker, decided to write a post to help you recognize the threats in time and to make amends to be less vulnerable to internet threats than you are now.

Look, I'm not here to tell you about the basic internet safety tips (Google it and see for yourself what I mean). I'm not gonna tell you what to do and what not to do on the web. I'm here to make sure that whatever you do, you don't, in any way, harm your machine during browsing. So I have compiled below a list of possible threats that you could encounter surfing the net on a Windows machine.

Viruses

The most common thing a typical Windows user complains about is that his computer gets affected by viruses frequently. Some unlucky chaps even had to format their hard drives completely when their computers stopped functioning properly. Viruses mostly get on our machines by means of attachments, cookies, executables, etc.

Most of us (almost all) combat such viruses using anti-virus softwares. Except a small group of Windows users, most usually pay for such software subscriptions that vary from $5-$50 per year!! But how much effective are they against sudden attacks?

Lets say you are browsing a malicious website. The website stores a cookie on your hard drive. Even the browser doesn't stop it (Well, usually it is advised to use cookies so most browsers have them turned on by default). But the cookie contains some malicious code that somehow gets executed(off course, the website triggers it) and boom! Even before your antivirus software is able to detect the virus, it has already done enough damage that. So what can you do? Just read on the solution at the end of the article but I recommend you to read about the rest of the threats also.

Spyware (Identity Theft)

Well, this does not harm your machine but it seriously harms your life. All your accounts (including Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, etc.) and all other information you share online is at a very high risk. Even the transactions you make on trusted sites may put in your credit card number or net banking password at risk. It is not the fault of any of these websites, but your Operating System. Windows is very vulnerable to Key-loggers and other kinds of spy-wares. Most of the antivirus programs can't detect them.

According to Wikipedia page:

"Keystroke logging (often called keylogging) is the action of tracking (or logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored."

You can bypass such softwares by using the on-screen keyboard for typing sensitive information like passwords but then, there are some key-loggers that also take screenshots and record mouse-clicks. They then send the data they have collected to some predefined email account where the hacker can easily gain access into your accounts.

And I am not lying. In this way, I have, in front of my friends, gained access into their Facebook accounts and have seen their surprised faces. All that I needed was to know their IP address or to have direct access to their computer for 2 minutes. Again the solution is at the end.

Windows Genuine Advantage

Well, technically, it is not a threat. Those who have Genuine Windows, they have no reason to worry. But in developing countries like India, where approx. half of the computers run pirated Windows OSes, this is a great disadvantage of using Windows to connect to the internet. If you initiate a download from a Microsoft site, most likely a Windows Update will be downloaded and check if your copy of Windows is Genuine or not. If not, then several features are deactivated and an error message is displayed at startup and also during sessions encouraging you to buy original windows. Don't think that I support piracy, but if it happens to people unaware about it, then its not right to get them in trouble for it. In most cases, if you don't want to spend a lot of money on buying an Original Copy, you have to format your PC. I guess you have understood the gravity of the situation.

Solution: Switch to a Linux distro

Yes, switch your operating system, but if you want, only for browsing. Linux is not an operating system but a kernel (Those of you who are not familiar with these terms, please refer to Wikipedia). When a user interface layer is added to it, along with other utilities, etc., it is called an operating system. Each modified version of Linux in called a Distro. I hope you have somewhat grabbed the concept.

Why Linux?

As of yet, there is a high market share of Windows and Mac. Thus most viruses and malicious softwares are written keeping either of the two in mind and not Linux. Also, Linux has inbuilt features that protect it from such harmful softwares. Thus, viruses have no effect on Linux.

Same is the case with spy-wares. Most are written for Windows and there is a very less chance of getting infected with them on Linux. Since most Linux distros are open-source and free, there is no reason for a pirated copy. Since you will be using Linux for browsing, you will like a very light-weight distro. And that is also possible. You can install JoliOS on your hard-drive like like any normal Windows application and uninstall it whenever you like. Also, it will occupy only 4 GB on your hard-disk (At least 4GB is advisable).

So what are you waiting for? Grab your copy here. Download the version to run along-side Windows. After downloading, check their site for installation instructions (They are easy, really easy).

Ubuntu Logo

The most successful Linux Distro now-a-days is Ubuntu. I personally recommend Ubuntu as it is a powerful OS which is equal, if not better than, to Windows 7. Grab the latest version here. You can easily fit it into 15 GB of space. First check the article on "How to dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04" to make sure you don't make any mistake. You may have noticed that there aren't detailed steps to create an unpartitioned space in your Hard drive. To see how to do so, see our post,"How to create a new partition in Windows 7" and follow only till step 2.

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Customize your Windows 7 computer now!!

2012-03-17T22:58:00.002+05:30

Bored of your computer? Want to see something exciting every time you turn you PC/lappy on? Or you simply want to increase your productivity?Well then, this post is for you. I, Kevin Skywalker, will introduce you to some of the best free customization softwares for Windows 7, that will spruce up an otherwise boring Aero interface, and you don't need to be Einstein for that.

What most people suffer now-a-days is, in my terminology, crowded-desktop-syndrome. Several of you may have solved this problem by making a new folder in which start dumping all your extra icons. With time, you find navigating through that folder sorta 'creepy!!' Then you make sub folders category wise and try to find a way through the mess. But even after wasting hours, you are not satisfied with the results. So instead of this inelegant way, would you like to try something new? Maybe, a dock? Never heard of them? Well, they are graphical user interface elements that typically provide the user with a way of launching, switching between, and monitoring running programs or applications. This image will help you understand better...

You can see the dock on the top of the screen

You can organize your icons on the Dock, which can be set to auto hide, so, your desktop will become amazingly less crowded. Still got too many icons? Sort and organize them into folders at any place on your hard disk and use the 'Stacks' docklet for rocket dock. And boom!! Your folders will appear in the dock and you can launch apps quickly from it while cleaning up your desktop. Cool, isn't it?

Using Stacks Docklet with Stardock, wonderful combo to cleanup your desktop!

Download Rocketdock
Download Staks Docklet for Rocketdock

Still, there will be some documents remaining on your desktop. Wanna organize them too? But still want to stay out of the long process to create stacks on the dock? then you can organize them into Fences. Ya, you read it right, Fences. It is a free app that allows you to easily create "Fences" on your desktop to keep the icons of same group together and easily hide/show them.

Fences also works on XP and Vista

You can create unlimited fences and its free!! You can even set the transparency and color of fences, rename the fences, etc. And when you want to clean-up your desktop, simply double-click and abracadabra, all your icons disappear. Off course you can select which icons to hide in "Fences Autohide". So the next time you are doing a research on something and have downloaded various documents that you plan on using frequently, simply right click and drag to create a fence and put em all in there. Simple?

Clear your desktop of clutter with Fences from Stradock

Download Fences

Ok, so now that you have organized your desktop, lets proceed to the next trouble you might be facing. So imagine that you have opened a lot of applications and you are feeling uncomfortable to switch between them quickly. The taskbar doesn't appear clean or organized with hell lot of applications opened all at once. Or another situation. You have signed into your Facebook account and are chatting with friends or maybe, with that 'someone special', when a family elder walks in on you. What will you do? Obviously, close the browser window. Well that's old school approach. After installing this application, you will just change your workspace( Those familiar with Ubuntu or OS X will know what I mean). So guys, let me introduce to Yod'm 3D.

Yet anOther Desktop'Manager 3D is a freeware that allows you to have upto 4 desktops running all at once. Simply change the screens next time you get the urge to close your running apps because of someone's prying eyes and continue when they are gone. Nice way around those aunts and siblings who always try to get you in trouble...!

Good thing, it also works with XP and Vista

You can change your shortcut keys combination as well as cube size and backgrounds. You can also have different backgrounds for each screen but that would ruin the purpose of trying to hide your activity. I prefer(and use) the combination SHIFT + CONTROL + ARROW KEYS. Its easy to remember it like this:- SHIFT the CONTROL to LEFT. Try it out. This app is a must for all!!

Download Yod'm 3D ( Don't worry, it is also known as Deskspace)

Thats just those three utilities that are a must for every Windows user. They are light weight, elegant and less memory consuming. So no need to worry, they won't slow you PC down. Also, these are compatible with each other. I hope you have fun with these free apps. Be sure to come back for more customization softwares. Till then, enjoy and leave your suggestions and experiences with these apps in the comments.

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