skia 2D Graphics Library

From time to time,

I try to understand what's surrounding my or should I say what is out there that tickle my curiosity.

When Android was release in 2007 I was trying to understand what was bind the user interface.
http://sgl.sourceforge.net/

"SGL consists of a set of  cross-platform C++ libraries, built on top of OpenGL, which implements 3D scene graph functionality (sgl), some simple 3D model loaders (sgldb, sglobj, sgl3ds), and some miscellaneous utilities (sglu)."

So today that simple explanation come back into my head and I try to answer a bit more of what that sgl was doing in more details. When I arrive on the sgl page and notice that the last update was on 2004. This was not possible that Android was depending on old stuff like that. So with another search I found post:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2940117/android-2d-graphic-library

That was speaking about skia that I then found on code.google.com
http://code.google.com/p/skia/

So to get a better look of what this was all about I try to follow the contributor steps:
http://code.google.com/p/skia/wiki/ContributingHowto
That made me download the source code and then try to compile it.

NOTE: Ubuntu 11.04 needed to install a package to get ride of a error:
src/core/SkAdvancedTypefaceMetrics.cpp:21:22: fatal error: ft2build.h: No such file or director
Here the solution: sudo apt-get install ftgl-dev


Then a simple make compile everything without any problem.
make tests work without problem and also bench, gm, skimage and skhello

Since we're testing a user interface we are searching for a demo that will run on unix and hope to see some colors !

To do, a navigation into directories show us support for xcode, vc and more. But the what sounds interesting is the unix_test_app
cd unix_test_app
make
cd out
./output

Then boom a super UI with colors and a mouse event interactions that make my see a close comparison with a scrolling menu on a android phone ;)

Deeper look at the main.cpp look us see dependencies:
 #include "X11/Xlib.h"
#include "X11/keysym.h"

#include "SkApplication.h"  
#include "SkEvent.h"
#include "SkWindow.h"
#include "SkTypes.h"

The main create the window and start the window loop. The same window pointer will be reuse to process events.

The DrawBlue that is the implementation of our example reuse and modify the SampleCode.h. It inherit from SKView.

The next step should be to modify the source code to see how it behave.

Good morning to Usage-Based Billing!

Here a nice letter from my ISP to tell me that I will now be controlled by the same limites as bigger company that control them. Welcome into super limited world of internet!!!


Bell was already sucking at services & quality off there network now they just suck ;)


-----------


Dear Acanac Customer,

The CRTC just decided to allow Bell Canada to charge independent ISPs, like Acanac Inc., what's called "usage-based billing"(UBB)on our customers.

This means that Bell will force us to pay usages fees similar to those that Bell charges to its own retail customers, when you exceed certain limits. Bell and other Big Telecom companies are obviously trying to gouge consumers, control the Internet market, and ensure that consumers continue to subscribe to their television services.

If we do not fight this you will have no choice but to pay MORE for LESS Internet. This will crush innovative services, Canada's digital competitiveness, and your wallet.

250,000 people across Canada have already signed the petition to stop these companies from charging you more. Signing the petition automatically sends Industry Minister Tony Clement an email. This is our best chance to stop usage-based billing.

Please Sign the Stop The Meter petition at: http://stopthemeter.ca/ Please also help us spread the word to your friends and neighbors.

Please make your voices heard. If we don't stop UBB, as of March 4th, 2011,  Acanac will make the following changes to accommodate the charges that will be FORCED on us and subsequently you, our valued customers:

Ontario Residential 5Mbps DSL Plan:
First 25GB at up-to 5Mbps. Beyond 25GB your speeds will be reduced to 100Kbps with unlimited transfer.

If you wish to remain at up-to 5Mbps, you can buy an additional 100GB of transfer for $9.95 per month. Beyond 125GB, speeds will be reduced to 100Kbps with unlimited transfer.

Quebec Residential 5Mbps DSL Plan:
First 60GB at up-to 5Mbps. Beyond 60GB, your speeds will be reduced to 100Kbps with unlimited transfer.

If you wish to remain at up-to 5Mbps, you can buy an additional 100GB of transfer for $9.95 per month. Beyond 160GB speeds will be reduced to 100Kbps with unlimited transfer.

Ontario & Quebec Residential MLPPP DSL Plans:
Same as above but multiply it by the number of lines you have. If you have 2 lines or Home 10Mbps in Ontario, you would get 50GB included and you can buy an additional 200GB for $19.90. Once you reach your allocated transfer, your speeds will be reduced to 100Kbps per line with unlimited transfer.  In this scenario you would have a total of 200Kbps after 250GB of usage.




What if the transfer options above are not enough?

Priority number one is to sign the Stop The Meter petition at:
http://stopthemeter.ca/

In addition to signing the petition you can use an Online PC as a bypass to the imposed usage-based billing on you by Bell and the CRTC. In partnership with http://www.zazeen.com/, you can continue downloading at over 1TB or 1000GB a month for as little as $23.95 per month.

How does this work?
Instead of downloading your data directly to your local computer, it is downloaded onto your Online PC located in our DATA Center. Your Online PC is connected to multiple Fiber optic lines capable of over 30Gbps or 30,000Mbps. This will bypass the Bell copper lines and the imposed usage-based billing.

Once the Data is downloaded onto the online PC how do I get it to my local computer?

Secure overnight DATA Shipment.

Step One:
Copy or move the Data that is to be shipped into an encrypted file container that only you have access to. (Provided within the Online PC)

Step Two:
Ship Zazeen a SATA Hard Drive with enough capacity to hold your encrypted DATA content. If you ship a hard drive that has more space than your Online PC, we can hold on to it until you fill it up completely. With Hard Drives currently passing over 2TB or 2000GB, you can continue to download without  any additional UBB fees.

Step Three:
Zazeen will now copy your encrypted data onto the supplied Hard Drive. At this point, we will ship it overnight via FedEx: Acanac subscribers get 1 free data shipment per month.
More info at http://www.zazeen.com/Data-Shipment.html

Click below for an in depth video presentation of Zazeen's Online PC service. http://www.zazeen.com/Zazeen-Intro/Zazeen-Intro.html

Bandwidth Transfer tracking:
On Feb 20th, 2011, Acanac Inc. will have a new Internet usage section in the Management Area of our Web Site located at https://www.acanac.com/Login-Section.html In this location you will be able to pre-purchase additional usage blocks and check your daily bandwidth usage.

Once again please DO NOT FORGET TO SIGN the Stop The Meter petition at: http://stopthemeter.ca/



Best Regards,
Acanac Inc.
www.acanac.com
support@acanac.com
Telephone: +1 (866) 281?3538
Toronto 1-416-849-8520
Montreal 1-514-667-4304
Vancouver 1-778-786-4196
Ottawa 1-613-686-5217
Calgary 1-403-451-6156
Corporate Office
1650 Dundas Street East. Unit 204,
Mississauga, Ontario,
Canada
L4X 2Z3

Me getting some visibility!

http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/185-jennifer-cloer/312233-the-people-who-support-linux-driving-4000-miles-to-linuxcon

Is the system clock set to local time or to GMT?

This explain difference between GMT and local time, perfectly by bashing on proprietary OS :)
Summary: see bold

### Local vs. UTC ###

  The first and most important question you'll have to answer is whether you
want to store the time in your machine in either UTC or local time format. UTC
(Universal Time Coordinated) is the same as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Local
time is the time that is displayed on a clock hanging on a wall near you. Each
format has its own advantages and disadvantages, but both of them are
discussed in this hint.

  Traditionally, all POSIX machines (i.e. Solaris, BSD, UNIX) have their
system time in UTC format. The more stupid OS's (mainly the Microsoft ones)
require their users to configure their machines for local time. Fortunately,
Linux can handle both the normal UTC machines and the machines suffering from
Microsoft diseases that have their system time in local format.

  At this point, you'll have to decide what it's gonna be; local or UTC time.
Some guidelines: If you're running Windows and Linux together on 1 box, I
recommend you use local time. If you have Windows but you hardly use it or if
you don't have Windows at all, it's a good idea to store your time in UTC
format. Once you've decided, edit /etc/sysconfig/clock. Use UTC=0 for local
time and UTC=1 for UTC (GMT) time.

reference: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/downloads/files/time.txt

So what happen if you use virtual machine?
The virtual machine will add abstract layer to add the time offset from real hardware clock.

reference: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf

Randall Spear Single

Friends invite me last night at Place des arts to see their friend Randall Spear for his first show for the release of his Single!

http://www.laplacedesarts.com/pda-evenement/3755/week-ends-de-la-chanson-quebecor,-randall-spear-s.fr.html

The show was amazing and Randall and is band were ready and gave intimate and nice show. I was felling lucky to be part of that emotional experience! Special thanks to Jerome and Genevieve!

You can found more about Randall Spear music on My Space:
http://www.myspace.com/randallspear

There will be a nice article on Randall on the Montreal journal on the weekend section.

Randall congratulation for that amazing achievement!

Acanac DSL Internet review

This is simply to write about my first experience with the ISP Acanac internet.
The reason why I'm writing this is because I have read a lot of negative comments about that ISP. Other ISP were saying that I will called then and beg then to go back with them.

So let see!

The reason why I decide to go with them is because it was the best offer for the less expensive.

18.95 / month! So is it really that price? Yes but we need to add some detailed.

1- Dry loop (ligne seche) 8.00 / month * 12 month = 96 * 4.80 (GST) = 100.80
2- DSL modem cost 50$
3- 18.95 * 12 = 227.40$
2+3- 277.40 + 13.82 = 291.22$
4- Total each month = 291.22 + 100.80 = 392.02 / 12 = 32.67$ / month all included.
5- Year after that I will have no need to buy the new DSL modem so my payment will deacrease to : 241.22 + 100.80 = 28.50$

Company offering DSL that have been compared:
acanac.com
aei.ca was 29.95 / month taxes not included + dry loop at 10$ + modem 100$ - 25$ if you were old client for more then 3 years.
b2b2c.ca around 35$ without modem and dry loop without taxes.
bell.ca Since all other company in my test were using bell network I was more intrested in not using bell to help other then the conpany having the monopol.
www.ca.inter.net 29.99 without tx + dry loop at 11$ + modem ~75$

Speed test used:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/700265229.png

Acanac interesting tutorials:
https://www.acanac.com/Tutorials.html

I place my internet order with Acanac on Wesdnesday January 20 night at 10pm. On Friday Januray 22 I was receiving my first billing account of 100.80 for the dry loop installation. Acanac were calling me to ask me to be at home on Wesdnesday January 27 from 9h00 to 17h00. I received my DSL modem on Tuesday January 26 by Fedex. The Bell technician activate my line at 12h00 on the Januray 27. I plug the DSL modem configure it with the documentation that was coming with. Couple of minutes after that I was surfing :)

Since then I have bridge my DSL modem with my linksys WRT54GL to have wireless. This step a clearly explained in the Acanac tutorial. Note that the user interface of my DSL modem is not the same but it is very easy to fill the gap.

Conclusion:
Acanac offer a perfect service and the best price on the market. I will have paid more then 10$ / month with other ISP for the same service. The reason why Acanac offer the best price is because they are the only one offering a deal if you pay all the year in one payment. Otherwise it will cost more then AEI internet per month if I look a the web page. AEI will be my choice if I was not able to paid in one payment. Mmmm maybe not since the dry loop cost more you should check.

Making Skype working on Ubuntu 9.04

Install skype

sudo apt-get install skype

Setup sound and mic for skype.

killall pulseaudio
sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio
sudo apt-get install esound
sudo rm /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudi

Reference:
http://boostmyworld.wordpress.com/