3/17/2008

Gnome Password Generator 1.6 Released

Sections: Projects, Software — Posted @ 8:15 pm by Chris

I released a new version of my secure password generator for Linux. The major improvement for this release was rewriting the menu bar code to use the new GTK UIManager API.

Get the source here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=104020

More information: http://gnome-password.sourceforge.net/

9/18/2007

Open Komodo Project Announcement

Sections: Software — Posted @ 7:48 pm by Chris

My favorite editor for all things programming, Komodo Edit by ActiveState, is going Open Source!

I can’t wait to get my hands on the source code. The first thing I am going to do is add the ability to open multiple windows instead of always opening a new file in a tab in the existing window.

The public source code repositories should be available in less than a month. And because this project is built on top of Mozilla Firefox technology, it should be both fun and easy to hack on. Another big win for Open Source!

More info about the Open Komodo Project

8/12/2007

Gnome Password Generator 1.5 Released

Sections: Projects, Software — Posted @ 9:30 pm by Chris

screenshot

I have finally gotten around to releasing a new version of Gnome Password Generator, my little utility to generate secure random passwords.

Special thanks to Steve Tyler, who submitted improvements including the ability to select different character sets and the use of urandom entropy if available.

Hopefully I won’t let another 3 years go by before I add some of my own improvements.

Get the source here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=104020

More information: http://gnome-password.sourceforge.net/

4/19/2007

A Busy Day for Open Source

Sections: Linux, Software — Posted @ 8:58 pm by Chris

My favorite Linux distribution, Ubuntu, and my favorite mail program, Thunderbird, released new versions today. Check them out:

Download Ubuntu 7.04 “Feisty Fawn”
Download Thunderbird 2.0

3/22/2007

I Finally Redesigned My Site

Sections: Software, Web Site — Posted @ 2:17 pm by Chris

I have been planning for almost 2 years to redo my site layout to use CSS instead of tables. The HTML table tag was never meant to be used for layouts, it’s purpose was to display tables of data, much like a spreadsheet. CSS layouts are more complex to design, mainly because it is hard to make the layout look the same across browsers, such as IE and Firefox. But the benefits are worth it, such as better search engine results and better accessibility for screen readers (for the blind) and devices such as PDAs and cell phones.

Along with the redesign I added another sidebar column and added a bunch of my favorite links, such as audio and video podcasts I subscribe to. I also busted out my vector graphics program, Inkscape, and refreshed the graphics with more of a “Web 2.0″ look. BTW, if you are into making digital art you need to try Inkscape, it works under Linux, Mac X, and Windows. It is also open source and free!

Download Inkscape at: http://www.inkscape.org/

4/5/2005

Google Maps, Now With Satellite Imagery

Sections: Software — Posted @ 9:57 am by Chris

Google Maps is still in “Beta” but already is much nicer than its competitors, Mapquest and Mappoint. Today, they took online maps one step farther by adding satellite images to complement the road maps. For example, click on the following link for a satellite view of the BestBuy store in Bakersfield (It’s the brownish building next to the bright white one).

BestBuy Satellite Photo

You can zoom in and out of the maps in real-time, click and drag to scroll around the map, and click the link on the upper right hand side to switch back to street maps.

I really hope that Google continues its policy of providing free APIs to access its data with regards to these maps. I would love to create a mapping program for Linux using their data. Either way, the general public can access Google’s amazing mapping software now for free!