phoxis GNU+Linux+FOSS, Reviews

Reviewing the GNUSim8085 (v1.3.7)

This article reviews the GNUSim8085 (v1.3.7) a graphical simulator, assembler and debugger for the Intel 8085 microprocessor.

The Intel 8085 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was launched by Intel in 1977 and hence is something that we have never seen around. So why do we need to learn about the programming model and instruction set of this old microprocessor? The microprocessors we use are all for general-purpose computing but there are other applications of computers such as making automatic solar tracking-panels, automatic power-controls, or security control systems. For such applications, general-purpose CPUs are unnecessary-a waste of resources; a low powered CPU is what we need. The Intel 8085 is one of the candidates. To program this piece of hardware, we first need to know the programming model-the logical structure of the programmable registers, flags, and the instruction set.

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phoxis GNU+Linux+FOSS, Reviews

Do Really ALL of us want to Reblog ?

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After a huge wave of excellent features and themes from wordpress.com in the last months, wordpress.com included a new feature what they call “Reblogging”. At the fist look i thought it was something like the facebookish “Like” button on the top for bookmarking, or subscribing it in readomattic, or like in StumbleUpon. But it read like this :

If you decide that you want to share the post with your own readers, you can click the “Reblog this post” link and you’ll be taken to the new QuickPress tab on the WordPress.com home page. This will auto-fill a snippet of the post text, a link back to the original post, and a link to the blog. If the post includes any images we’ll also automatically add a thumbnail image to the reblog post. Finally you can add your own comments to the reblog post then select which blog you’d like to post it to (if you have more than one).

I thought okay, wordpress.com is trying to get “social” (were we unsocial or anti-social before?), but i discovered the feature was like this:
Continue reading my view about the wp.com Reblog feature

phoxis GNU+Linux+FOSS, Reviews

WordPress.com Top 10 Features

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WordPress.com is a free web-blogging service which uses WordPress CMS software as their blogging platform. Here are the free blog feature list : http://en.wordpress.com/features/

Before starting a blog in wordpress.com , I tried some CMS softwares offline. I used Joomla, Drupal, Vox, Plone, etc. WordPress CMS matched my exact needs. Self hosting was a tedious task with the work of creating content as well as an extra burden of administration. I decided to go with the free blogging services. I registered with blogger.com and spent some time testing it. Although it is feature rich with allowing editing theme XML, CSS, allowing JavaScript, Flash embeds, but somehow it was not a match for me. At last I finally tried wordpress.com . After starting it felt a bit bad as there was no manual theme customization options which became a habit that time, no free CSS editing, no JavaScript, and had limitations. As time passed, I was getting into wordpress.com the more I discovered the features and adjusted myself, and started to post more content. At last I am now fixed in wordperess.com, and mapped a domain with their domain upgrade feature.

Continue reading to get the Top Ten

phoxis GNU+Linux+FOSS, Reviews

Talking About Google Buzz

google_buzz_logoI logged into my Gmail account and instead of landing in my Gmail Inbox page I landed in a some other page talking about something called Google Buzz. . A quick glance told that it is a new service of Google which integrates itself in Gmail and has social networking features. Google has started rolling this service gradually to the Gmail users. On the left hand side column the new Google Buzz link with a typical Google type logo indicates that it is integrated in my Gmail account. So what’s buzzing in the Buzz?
Read more to listen to the buzz in the Buzz

phoxis GNU+Linux+FOSS, Reviews

CDlinux

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In the world of minimalist GNU/Linux distributions, we introduce you to CDlinux, which originated in the People’s Republic of China, in 1999. Four years later, in 2003, the first public release, version 0.4.2, came out. The latest version 0.9.5, which was released on December 02, 2009, is a mere 62 MB.

CDlinux, or Compact Distro Linux, was primarily intended for systems administrators as a systems rescue tool. But it can also be used as a bare minimum portable desktop OS and as a customisable OS base. The default desktop environment is Xfce (currently 4.6.1) with the Thunar file manager, thus ensuring CDlinux cuts out the fat. The whole distro loads on the RAM, so the access is rapid. The official edition’s RAM requirement is only 64 MB. CDlinux is capable of booting from CD/DVD and HDD. It also supports USB and IEEE1394 interfaces for booting. Continue reading to know more about CDlinux
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phoxis Computer Science, GNU+Linux+FOSS, Overview, Reviews

Allegro 4.2.2

Introduction

Allegro Logo
Designing and programming games is anything but easy. One needs to understand the game logic (algorithm) and the graphics manipulation techniques, the core of the game, and good planning and synchronization between these, to design a game. And I don’t think anyone would debate the fact the graphics alone makes a huge impact on games. That means the core logic needs priority and concentration than the eye candy graphics.

To begin programming the games and their graphics we need to have the basic concepts of game programming clear, as well as a good graphics and I/O tool which does not drag a beginner into the complex world of syntaxes, datastructres, procedures, complex internals, etc. Thus, I’m sure everyone agrees that starting with OpenGL or DirectX programming becomes quite a job for beginners. So game making needs very good management and planning at first, then it needs coding knowledge, and a good programming tool or API is needed to complete the task smoothly. Selecting an API is very important, it should be simple and is usable and also powerful at the same time which will let you spend more time on the planning the game and code the techniques. Now all the properties are difficult to find.

In this article we will introduce you with a 2D and 3D game and graphics library called Allegro, primarily to be used with C Programming Language, which brings you a great platform to start game programming. Though you still will need to know the basic techniques and algorithms to design the core, but Allegro is a great API which takes a good care of the graphics, sound, I/O and all the other components. So you can do the core design with more concentration, and then create the multimedia components, and the I/O using Allegro with great simplicity. Allegro does this by hiding the complex internals with its simple abstract datastructres and similarly simple routines. And all this is not only for beginners, but this library also has the power inside for advanced and professional-level programming. Read the whole article to know about Allegro in details and jump start into allegro programming

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phoxis GNU+Linux+FOSS, Reviews

Puppy Linux 4.1

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In this calorie-burning, fat-avoiding, health-conscious world, our poor computer gets loaded with gigabytes of fatty operating systems. Try to cut short the fat and you’ll end up either with a feeble OS unfit for regular use, or with a fairly small, but difficult-to-move alternative. The ultimate solution of a portable, fat-free desktop is made by setting free the small, thin Puppy on your disk and letting it manage your system and serve you with all the needed desktop applications.

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phoxis GNU+Linux+FOSS, Reviews

GeeXboX 1.1

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If you are planning to scrap out your old 200MHz PC with 64MB of RAM, and buy a brand new one, then there’s a buy one get one free offer going on. Buy a new computer get a home theater free and no conditions apply! Just Joking, its GeeXboX which will make your old junk machine transform into a powerful home theater PC.
Its a Live CD based Linux distribution with a jaw dropping size of 8.9MB. GeeXboX first development release was on December 2002. The project then was only capable of playing DivX movies. But it developed very fast and showed as the first public release on 16th May 2003 ( GeeXboX 0.90-1 ), which supported a lot of media formats other than DivX. This project was accepted in the Google Summer of Code 2007.
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