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• Memory limiting solutions for greedy applications that can crash OS?

  - by Hooked

  I use my computer for scientific programming. It has a healthy 8GB of RAM and 12GB of swap space. Often, as my problems have gotten larger, I exceed all of the available RAM. Rather than crashing (which would be preferred), it seems Ubuntu starts loading everything into swap, including Unity and any open terminals. If I don't catch a run-away program in time, there is nothing I can do but wait - it takes 4-5 minutes to switch to a command prompt eg. Ctrl-Alt-F2 where I can kill the offending process. Since my own stupidity is out of scope of this forum, how can I prevent Ubuntu from crashing via thrashing when I use up all of the available memory from a single offending program? At-home experiment*! Open a terminal, launch python and if you have numpy installed try this: >>> import numpy >>> [numpy.zeros((10**4, 10**4)) for _ in xrange(50)] * Warning: may have adverse effects, monitor the process via iotop or top to kill it in time. If not, I'll see you after your reboot.

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• Operating System not Found after installing Ubuntu in a Sony Vaio

  - by diego8arock

  I just bought a Sony Vaio SVS15115FLB that came with Windows 7, after enjoying the PC graphic power for a little, I decided it was time to install Ubuntu 12.04. First, I inserted a USB stick, reboot, press F11 but a message saying that no OS was found on the USB, so then I used a live CD. It booted fine and I installed Ubuntu, then when it was time to restart the PC, it didn't boot to GRUB but it went straight to Windows and it began an startup error and was looking for a solution, after it was done, it restarted and then it booted again to Windows and to the same start up error solution thing. I freaked out, so I booted again the Ubuntu live CD, and installed Ubuntu over everything, after it installed I rebooted and then a message appeared saying Operating system Not Found, and I have no idea why. So I Googled again and found this post on Boot Partition, I did everything exactly on that post, but it didn't work (by the way, this was the message): The boot files of [Ubuntu 12.04 LTS] are far from the start of the disk. Your BIOS may not detect them. You may want to retry after creating a /boot partition (EXT4, >200MB, start of the disk). This can be performed via tools such as gParted. Then select this partition via the [Separate /boot partition:] option of [Boot Repair]. It appeared the first time, then I did it all again and then it was gone. I rebooted and nothing, the same Operating System not found message appeared. So I decided to create a partition for Windows, hoping for something, but the message still appears. I really have no idea what to do, but there is something odd, if I insert the USB stick containing Ubuntu 11.10, the message that says that there is no OS in the PendDrive flashes for a fraction of a second and the boot straight to Ubuntu 12.04 without problems (and booted to Windows when I installed it, ignoring Ubuntu), right now I'm using it like that, but its pretty annoying. Can anyone advise me how to fix this? I'm no expert on this kind of things (boot, GRUB, recovery and stuff like that).

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• Configuring permissions with Bastille

  - by Lucio

  I was using Bastille to improve the security of OS and I found the next question there I don't know if I should answer for YES or NOT: Questions: Would you like to set more restrictive permissions on the administration utilities? Explanation: In general, the default file permissions set by most vendors are fairly secure. To make them more secure, though, you can remove non-root user access to some administrator functions. If you choose this option, you'll be changing the permissions on some common system administration utilities so that they're not readable or executable by users other than root. These utilities (which include linuxconf, fsck, ipconfig, runlevel and portmap) are ones that most users could never have a need to access. This option will increase your system security, but there's a chance it will inconvenience your users. My users: When I installed Ubuntu I had create a user (admin), then I was able to create another user (people) but I cannot change the permissions of this user. Questions: The user there I am using like admin it's not the root, right? The effects of this option will affect to the two users (admin & people) or just to people?

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• Compiling custom kernel 3.7.x lowlatency on Ubuntu 12.04

  - by FlabbergastedPickle

  All, I have a peculiar problem with trying to compile a lowlatency flavor of the latest 3.7 kernel. I retrieved the prepatched source from the launchpad using bzr, compiled it using the usual make-kpkg using the current config file plus default options for the rest, installed the kernel and booted into it. Everything works except for the fglrx and wl drivers that I had to install in the original 12.04 lowlatency kernel. So, I tried recompiling these and succeeded with both of them (no errors were reported)--wl driver required a minor adjustment to system.h include while latest fglrx 12.11 beta11 (released yesterday, Dec. 3rd, 2012) compiled without the hitch. Yet, when I try to modprobe either module (both having in common the fact that they were built after the kernel, fglrx as a deb, and wl via the usual make/make install), I get "FATAL: no MODULENAME module found" (MODULENAME being either wl or fglrx). The graphic driver watermark shows 3D crossed out and "for testing purposes" (or "unsupported hardware," can't remember), and no fglrx or wl is loaded. More mysteriously, dmesg shows no attempt on kernel's behalf to load the said drivers, even though they are clearly in the right /lib/modules/KERNEL_VERSION folder. How is this possible? Has something fundamentally changed in 3.7 kernel that would prevent modprobing of these? I know that there is driver signing option that was merged recently but as far as I could tell the kernel config file generated by the build process had that disabled. OTOH, while building wl driver, I did get a warning that the driver was not signed... Then again, even if the kernel disallowed loading of those modules, shouldn't dmesg reflect that? Any thoughts on this one are most appreciated.

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• Deferred rendering order?

  - by Nick Wiggill

  There are some effects for which I must do multi-pass rendering. I've got the basics set up (FBO rendering etc.), but I'm trying to get my head around the most suitable setup. Here's what I'm thinking... The framebuffer objects: FBO 1 has a color attachment and a depth attachment. FBO 2 has a color attachment. The render passes: Render g-buffer: normals and depth (used by outline & DoF blur shaders); output to FBO no. 1. Render solid geometry, bold outlines (as in toon shader), and fog; output to FBO no. 2. (can all render via a single fragment shader -- I think.) (optional) DoF blur the scene; output to the default frame buffer OR ELSE render FBO2 directly to default frame buffer. (optional) Mesh wireframes; composite over what's already in the default framebuffer. Does this order seem viable? Any obvious mistakes?

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• How do I debug an overheating problem?

  - by Tab

  Hello guys. I have a problem with my Laptop (Dell Inspiron 1564 Core i5 4GB Ram VGA ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 running Ubuntu 10.10 32bit). It shuts down abruptly without even a lag in the application I am working with before shutdown. I think it's overheating problem. Actually the laptop is hot all the time when I am running Ubuntu. When I switch back to windows, even with intense load it won't shutdown or show any problem as long as I keep proper ventilation (when the air openings are blocked it does the same). Actually on Ubuntu i don't usually do things that need much CPU power, usually surfing internet, coding web pages and sometimes playing with python and ruby. I am not enabling desktop effects so no GPU load except the normal GNOME gui. Now as I am writing the Processor load in the panel monitor applet is 0%, Memory 11% by programs, 22% by cache. And i have CPU Frequency monitor for each of the 4 cores set to 1.20 Ghz (the lowest possible value, i am not sure if this applet does really limit CPU usage). Running sensors in terminal gave me temp1: +26.8°C (crit = +100.0°C) temp2: +0.0°C (crit = +100.0°C) hddtemp /dev/sda at the terminal gave me /dev/sda: WDC WD3200BEVT-75ZCT2: 46°C All that fine but the laptop is Really hot i can feel it in the keyboard, mouse pad is painful to touch, and the fan is always spinning. I am also placing 2 small fans running on USB under the laptop right now and the laptop is lifted over the fans so it's well ventilated. When I am running windows it doesn't get that hot except when there is a really big load on the CPU and this is keeping me away from using Linux for everyday tasks. Actually I don't care much for speed as I can deal with low speed it's not going to shutdown abruptly. So please if you can help me and tell me what are the possible causes, where should I start ?

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• Problem graphics with ATI Radeon x1270 (RS690M) on Ubuntu 12.04

  - by Giuseppe Della Corte

  I'm Italian and so I apologize for my English! I'm a beginner to Ubuntu and I tried it on my desktop PC and it's fantastic, fast and fun! I decided to try it on my netbook Packard Bell DOT M/A and this is the configuration: AMD Athlon L110 1.2GHz 2GB of RAM ATI Radeon x1270 (RS690M) 150GB Hard Disk I installed Ubuntu 12.04 with Wubi (dualboot Windows 7 + Ubuntu 12.04), because the netbook does not have a DVD player! During the installation everything is OK, after it was installed I see mistakes in the graphical display! I see objects that are seen in different colors and moving (buttons, mouse pointer, text bar ... etc ...) At one point came not to see anything, such as this screenshot: The drivers are open, that is already installed in Ubuntu. Windows 7 video card runs fine, can run well Aero (transparent window effects), I can watch movies in HD and play some games with the Catalyst drivers from AMD. Now I ask a favor, you can help me solve this problem? Is there a fix for this driver or drivers different on the Internet? Thanks for your attention, good bye!

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• Better solution for boolean mixing?

  - by Ruben Nunez

  Sorry if this question has been asked in the past, but searching Google and here didn't yield relevant results, so here goes. I'm working on a fragment shader that implements both conditional/boolean diffuse and bump mapping (that is to say, you don't need a diffuse texture or a normals texture, and if they're not present, they're simply changed to default values). My current solution is to use a uniform float to say "mix amount". For example, computing the diffuse texel works as: // Compute diffuse amount scaled by vCol // If no texture is present (mDif = 0.0), then DiffuseTexel = vCol // kT[0] is the diffuse texture // vTex is the texture co-ordinates // mDif is the uniform float containing the mix amount (either 0.0 or 1.0) vec4 DiffuseTexel = vCol*mix(vec4(1.0), texture2D(kT[0], vTex), mDif); While that works great and all, I was wondering if there's a better way of doing this, as I will never have any use for in-between values for funky effects. I know that perhaps the best solution is to simply write separate shaders for mDif=0.0 and mDif=1.0, but I'd like a more elegant solution than splicing shaders before compiling or writing multiple shader files and keeping each one updated. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. =)

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• Best way to go for simple online multi-player games?

  - by Mr_CryptoPrime

  I want to create a trivia game for my website. The graphic design does not have to be too fancy, probably no more advanced than a typical flash game. It needs to be secure because I want users to be able to play for real money. It also needs to run fast so users don't spend their time frustrated with game freezing. Compatibility, as with almost all online products, is key because of the large target market. I am most acquainted with Java programming, but I don't want to do it in Java if there is something much better. I am assuming I will have to utilize a variety of different languages in order for everything to come together. If someone could point out the main structure of everything so I could get a good start that would be great! 1) Language choice for simple secure online multiplayer games? 2) Perhaps use a database like MySQL, stored on a secure server for the trivia questions? 3) Free educational resources and even simpler projects to practice? Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful...Thanks!

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• Creating a 2D Line Branch

  - by Danran

  I'm looking into creating a 2D line branch, something for a "lightning effect". I did ask this question before on creating a "lightning effect" (mainly though referring to the process of the glow & after effects the lightning has & to whether it was a good method to use or not); Methods of Creating a "Lightning" effect in 2D However i never did get around to getting it working. So i've been trying today to get a seconded attempt going but i'm getting now-were :/. So to be clear on what i'm trying to-do, in this article posted; http://drilian.com/2009/02/25/lightning-bolts/ I'm trying to create the line segments seen in the images on the site. I'm confused mainly by this line in the pseudo code; // Offset the midpoint by a random amount along the normal. midPoint += Perpendicular(Normalize(endPoint-startPoint))*RandomFloat(-offsetAmount,offsetAmount); If someone could explain this to me it would be really grateful :).

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• 3D space game development

  - by user1693061

  I want to develop a 3D game (sci-fi type with spaceships) which can be played on multiplayer mode and by multiplayer i mean around 10 players for start as it will be a personal testing project and mostly educational. I have been searching for some days about the available languages and engines but i am kinda confused. Since i have been learning Java for my 1st year in I.T university and i have pretty good understanding i thought i would go with the Java language and develop that game on an applet so it could be played on a browser. After going through an applet game tutorial i understood how graphics work on an applet. So.. 1st question: Could an applet carry the burden of a 3D game especially on multiplayer? My thinking: It's a space game so the graphics should not be such a big problem since it wont be that crowded with entities apart from ships, planets and some effects. If the java applet is not the way for my project i would't mind "developing it on desktop"(i mean not making it a browser game). 2nd question: Should i use Unity engine for my purpose(space game)? If not name other language/engine combo.

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• Multiple Businesses at The Same Physical Address - SEO / Google Places

  - by Howdy_McGee

  I was wondering what kind if there would be any negative effects to have multiple businesses having the exact same physical address on their website. Currently we have five businesses at the exact same address and it shows on their website, so when people google one of the five businesses address their going to get multiple results from multiple website most of which will not be what their looking for. What is a way around this / what can I do about this? Would adding "Suite Numbers" be a solution? A thought occurred that it might be a good idea to create a landing page for users that are looking up a business by it's address via google. The page will bring up multiple businesses since we have a few at the same address but if we have a landing page at the top which then leads to multiple businesses that might solve the multiple address seo problem. Going to keep researching it though. I also know for Google Places (possible bing local and yahoo local) this could also become a problem. I've submitted an inquiry with them but I wanted to know if anybody had a ready-made solution around this so that Google doesn't bunch all these companies together into one. Thanks!

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• Ubuntu 12.04 slow boot on ASUS, attached with dmesg and bootchart

  - by stanleyhunk

  I heard that Ubuntu can boot up around 30sec, but I take more than 60sec every time my Ubuntu boot. I also read some forum said need to post the dmesg and bootchart to identify which process slowing down the booting time, as I'm not expert in Ubuntu and wish to learn more about it, I humbly ask any pro here to teach me how. My laptop specs: Model : ASUS K45VS RAM : 8MB CPU : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz x 8 Graphic Card : nVidia GeForce GT 645M HDD : 750GB OS : Single boot Ubuntu 12.04LTS System.uname : Linux 3.8.0-39-generic #58~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 2 21:33:40 UTC 2014 x86_64 System.release : Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS System.kernel.options : BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.8.0-39-generic root=UUID=c8a71503-bce8-406c-9a5f-5aa8284f5c7c ro quiet splash My dmesg (which highlighted to the huge time frame gap): [ 30.772656] cgroup: libvirtd (1961) created nested cgroup for controller "memory" which has incomplete hierarchy support. Nested cgroups may change behavior in the future. [ 30.772659] cgroup: "memory" requires setting use_hierarchy to 1 on the root. [ 30.772683] cgroup: libvirtd (1961) created nested cgroup for controller "devices" which has incomplete hierarchy support. Nested cgroups may change behavior in the future. [ 30.772710] cgroup: libvirtd (1961) created nested cgroup for controller "blkio" which has incomplete hierarchy support. Nested cgroups may change behavior in the future. [ 32.140335] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: irq 46 for MSI/MSI-X [ 32.505619] ACPI Error: Field [TMPB] at 1081344 exceeds Buffer [ROM1] size 262144 (bits) (20121018/dsopcode-236) [ 32.505624] ACPI Error: Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._ROM] (Node ffff880224e91f00), AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT (20121018/psparse-537) [ 802.034422] audit_printk_skb: 69 callbacks suppressed [ 802.034428] type=1400 audit(1400914804.392:35): apparmor="DENIED" operation="capable" parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=1683 comm="cupsd" pid=1683 comm="cupsd" capability=36 capname="block_suspend" [ 1581.300901] type=1400 audit(1400915584.816:36): apparmor="DENIED" operation="capable" parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=1683 comm="cupsd" pid=1683 comm="cupsd" capability=36 capname="block_suspend" My Bootchart.png: Looking forward to learn to improve both my booting time and knowledge. Thanks in advance :)

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• Hexagonal Tiles

  - by PATRY

  i'm doing a tactical game (X-Com / Fallout style) for fun. I've decided to use an hexagonal map, but i'm having a graphic problem. My current map display is HUD-like, with only the border of the map cells displayed, without any texture. it's simple and allow for display of different types of informations by varying the color of the border. For exemple the "danger view mode" displays the borders with a color going from green (no damage possible) to red (prob of damage 90%). Now, It's a bit hard to différenciate the kind of tile the player is on. I could put a plain color (green is grass, pale blue is water...), but this is going to limit the possibilities. Thus, i would like to display a texture on my tiles. Since the map are generated, i can not use a picture for the whole map with the HUD over. So, my question is : does any one knows how i could generate the sealess hexagonal textures (algo or plugin), or if there is a site with some hexagonal tiles ?

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• What are the challenges of implementing an ERP system?

  When a company decides to rollout an ERP system as part of its core business processes they must consider and provide solutions for the following general challenges. It is important to note that this list is generic and that every ERP system that rolls out is as distinct as the companies that are trying to implement the system. Upper Management Support Reengineering Existing Business Process and Applications Integration of the ERP with other existing departmental applications Implementation Time Implementation Costs Employee Training I just recently read an article by Mano Billi called “What are the major challenges in implementing ERP? “ were he basically outlines the common challenges to implementing an ERP system within a company. He discusses items like Upper management support, altering existing systems, and how ERPs integrate with other independent systems. In addition, he also covers items on selecting a ERP vendor, ERP Consultants, and the effects of an ERP system on employees.  I personally think he did a create job of outlining common issues that can cause an ERP implementation to fail or not be as effective as it potentially could be if the challenges are not taken in to account appropriately.

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• generating maps

  - by gardian06

  This is a conglomeration question when answering please specify which part you are addressing. I am looking at creating a maze type game that utilizes elevation. I have a few features I would like to have, but am unsure as to some of the implementation. I have done work doing fileIO maze generation (using a key to read the file, and then generate the level based on that file), but I am unsure how to think about this with elevation in the mix. I think height maps might be a good approach, but don't know how to represent them effectively. for a height map which is more beneficial XML(containing h[u,v] data and key definition), CSV (item1 is key reference, item2 is elevation), or another approach that I have not thought of yet? When it comes to placing the elevation values themselves what kind of deltah values are appropriate to have it noticeable at about a 60degree angle while not really effecting gravity driven physics (assuming some effect while moving up/down hill)? I am thinking of maybe going to procedural generation at some point, but am wondering if it is practical to have a procedurally generated grid (wall squares possibly same dimensions as the open space squares), or if designing to a thin wall open spaces is better? this decision will effect the amount of work need on the graphics end for uniform vs. irregular walls. EDIT: game will be a elevation maze shooter. levels/maps will be mazes with elevation the player has to negotiate. elevations will have effects on "combat" vision, and movement

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• Black login screen Ubuntu 12.04 if WGA cable pluged in on reboot

  - by Sulliwane

  I'm using Ubuntu 12.04.1, 64 bits, installed on a Z77 Pro4 (ASrock motherboard), crucial M4 SSD drive (sata 3), and intel i5 3570k (ivy bridge). I have this annoying problem : When I startup the computer, I get a CLI login prompt : At this moment, if I press enter, i get the usual CLI login prompt. If not, here is what I get : From now, if I login using CLI, i identify the lightdm processus, kill and start it : #ps -A | grep lightdm #sudo kill -9 1273 #sudo lightdm and miracle, these commands bring back the gui login screen. BUT It's very annoying as I have to repeat these steps at every boot, and the people using this desktop are not familiar with linux at all! So I tried to figure out the cause and here is what I found : If, when I shutdown the computer, the WGA cable is not pluged in, then Ubuntu will boot on GUI login screen without a glitch! But If the WGA cable is pluged in when shuting down, I will get CLI login prompt... Note 1: I installed linux kernel 3.4, but it hasn't solve the problem. Note 2: Is it linked to the new HD 4000 integrated graphic processor ? Note 3: If i boot on an USB stick (Ubuntu 12.04), NO problems ! Note 4: If booting on the SSD, when clicking "shutdown" button, the shutdown process never ends up (logout screen keep displaying and fans are still rolling). But if booting on USB stick, the shutdown action runs properly.

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• Low Graphics and laggy screen after update to 13.10 from 13.04

  - by Wh0RU

  After updating from 13.04 to 13.10 many of 3D unity stuff has stopped working, I am suing Samsung Series 3 (NP350V5X) Laptop which has Switchable Intel and AMD Radeon HD 7670M GFX. xserver-xorg-video-ati does works but NO 3D support and graphics are very low. [I am currently using this] fglrx & fglrx-updates shows blank screen after Login. Intel Graphic Install doesn't work either (dependency error) Output of $ sudo lshw -c video *-display description: VGA compatible controller product: Thames [Radeon HD 7500M/7600M Series] vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0 version: 00 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom configuration: driver=radeon latency=0 resources: irq:45 memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:c0120000-c013ffff ioport:3000(size=256) memory:c0100000-c011ffff *-display description: VGA compatible controller product: 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 2 bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0 version: 09 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom configuration: driver=i915 latency=0 resources: irq:46 memory:bfc00000-bfffffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:4000(size=64) Similarly $ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc. OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.3, 256 bits) OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 9.2.1 Not software rendered: no Not blacklisted: yes GLX fbconfig: yes GLX texture from pixmap: yes GL npot or rect textures: yes GL vertex program: yes GL fragment program: yes GL vertex buffer object: yes GL framebuffer object: yes GL version is 1.4+: yes Unity 3D supported: no Shows no 3D support. Can anyone please guide how to make things working again.

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• Installed ubuntu over windows vista..cant reinstall windows

  - by Marcuz J Hinojoz

  I recently used the "compress hard drive" option within windows. i got the horid "boot mngr is compressed" after the restart. i tried booting my system back to windows vista but it doesnt read the cd that came with my computer. i tried going into system recovery and going back to a previous date but it didnt work. i kept pressing f8 but nothing. i installed ubuntu(the ubuntu cd worked but windows didnt?) i installed ubuntu so i could atleast get in my computer, and i still wasnt able to install windows from there. my hard drive got reformatted to a ext4? and windows cant install because it doesnt read it? im not sure, but its very frustrating. my computer is a gateway gt5668e windows vista home premium with sp1. im a graphic designer and use programs such as photoshop and cinema 4d to do my projects..i have been at a unfortunate halt with my work and i am really bummed out and dont know what to do... any help?

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• 'Buy the app' landing page implementations: redirect or javascript popup?

  - by benwad

  My site (using Django) has an app that I'm trying to push - I currently have a piece of middleware that redirects the user to a page advertising the app if they're accessing the page on the iPhone, then setting a cookie so that the user isn't bugged by the message every time they visit the site. This works fine, however checking the page with the mobile Googlebot checker shows that the Googlebot gets stuck in the redirect (since it doesn't store cookies) and therefore won't index the proper content. So, I'm trying to think of an alternative implementation that won't hurt the site's Google ranking and won't have any other adverse effects. I've considered a couple of options: Redirect (the current solution), but don't redirect if the user agent matches the Googlebot's UA string. This would be ideal, however I'm not sure if Google like their bot being treated differently from other users, and I'm afraid the site's ranking may be somehow penalised if I go ahead with this. Use a Javascript popup instead of a redirect. This would make sure the Googlebot finds the content it needs, however I envision this approach causing compatibility issues with the myriad mobile devices/browsers out there, and may affect the page load time. How valid are these options? And is there a better option for implementing this feature out there? I've tried researching this topic but surprisingly can't find any reputable-looking blog posts that explore this topic.

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• How to plan/manage multi-platform (mobile) products?

  - by PhD

  Say I've to develop an app that runs on iOS, Android and Windows 8 Mobile. Now all three platforms are technically in different program languages. The only 'reuse' that I can see is that of the boxes-and-lines drawings (UML :) charts and nothing else. So how do companies/programmers manage the variation of the same product across different platforms especially since the implementation languages differ? It's 'easier' in the desktop world IMO given the plethora of languages and cross-platform libraries to make your life easier. Not so in the mobile world. More so, product line management principles don't seem to be all that applicable - what is same and variant doesn't really matter - the application is the same (conceptually) and the implementation is variant. Some difficulties that come to mind: Bug Fixing: Applications maybe designed in a similar manner but the bug identification and fixing would be radically different. A bug on iOS may/may-not be existent for that on Android. Or a bug fix approach on one platform may not be the same on another (unless it's a semantic bug like a!=b instead of a==b which would require the same 'approach' to fixing in essence Enhancements: Making a change on one platform would be radically different than on another Code-Design Divergence: They way the code is written/organized, the class structures etc., could be very different given the different implementation environments - leading to further reuse of the (above) UML models. There are of course many others - just keeping the development in sync and making sure all applications are up to the same version with the same set of features etc. Seems the effort is 3x that of a single application. So how exactly does one manage this nightmarish situation? Some thoughts: Split application to client/server to minimize the effect to client side only (not always doable) Use frameworks like Unity-3D that could take care of the cross-platform problem (mostly applicable to games and probably not to other applications etc.) Any other ways of managing a platform line? What are some proven approaches to managing/taming the effects?

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• Sprite sorting issues

  - by TheBroodian

  I apologize for the vague title, I'm not sure how else to phrase this problem. I am using tIDE to assist me in my game's world development. To give a dynamic effect to map layers within tIDE, it has events that can be wired up to draw sprites before or after the draw of layers, to create foreground or background effects during runtime. This all works fine and well, however, the only way that I understand that this works, is by calling tIDE's internal spritebatch to create this effect. This creates a problem for me, because within tIDE's source code, its spritebatch's call block is set to SpriteSortMode.Deferred, and my characters have particle elements that I would like to draw in front of and behind themselves, via a drawdepth value. I can use a separate instance of spritebatch and call my character's draw method, and set sprite sorting there, but then my character is drawn ontop of all layers in my tIDE map. Which is even worse to me than my particles not being drawn as I want them to be. So, in summary, I want all of my crap to work, but at the moment the only way I can figure to do that is to ghetto rig the spritebatch within my characters' draw methods by calling a spritebatch.End();, then starting a new call to Begin() with SpriteSortMode.BackToFront, doing all of my characters' draw logic, and then calling another spritebatch.End(); followed once again by a new spritebatch.Begin(). Obviously that is pretty undesirable, but I don't know any other feasible alternatives. Anybody got any wisdom they could impart unto me as to how I could handle this?

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• How to Effectively Create Bullet Patterns

  - by SoulBeaver

  I'm currently creating a top-down shooter like Touhou. The most important factor of the game is that there are many diverse patterns and ways at which bullets are generated and shot at the player, see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nb5Ohbt1Sg#start=0:60;end=9:53; At the moment, I'm using a class "Pattern" which has a series of steps on moving and shooting. However, I feel this method is quite laborous as I have to create a new Pattern for each attack and perhaps new Bullet classes that will implement a certain behavior. This question received a comment suggesting I should look into BulletML for easy creation and storage of bullets with a specific pattern. It looks decent, but it led me to wonder, what other solutions do you have that I should take into consideration? Update My current design is as follows: An example of an implemented pattern: My GigasPattern first executes a teleport which moves Alice to a certain point (X, Y) on the screen. After this is completed, the pattern starts using the Mover to move the sprite around (whereas teleporting has separate effects and animation). These are of no concern, really, as they are quite simple. The Shooter also creates various Attacks, which are classes again that the Shooter can use to create various patterns of bullets, much like the one in the question I posted. Once the Mover has reached it's destination, both it and the shooter stop and return to an inactive state. The pattern completes, is removed by the AI and a new one gets chosen.

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• Problems when rendering code on Nvidia GPU

  - by 2am

  I am following OpenGL GLSL cookbook 4.0, I have rendered a tesselated quad, as you see in the screenshot below, and i am moving Y coordinate of every vertex using a time based sin function as given in the code in the book. This program, as you see on the text in the image, runs perfectly on built in Intel HD graphics of my processor, but i have Nvidia GT 555m graphics in my laptop, (which by the way has switchable graphics) when I run the program on the graphic card, the OpenGL shader compilation fails. It fails on following instruction.. pos.y = sin.waveAmp * sin(u); giving error Error C1105 : Cannot call a non-function I know this error is coming on the sin(u) function which you see in the instruction. I am not able to understand why? When i removed sin(u) from the code, the program ran fine on Nvidia card. Its running with sin(u) fine on Intel HD 3000 graphics. Also, if you notice the program is almost unusable with intel HD 3000 graphics, I am getting only 9FPS, which is not enough. Its too much load for intel HD 3000. So, sin(X) function is not defined in the OpenGL specification given by Nvidia drivers or something else??

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• How do you track existing requirements over time?

  - by CaptainAwesomePants

  I'm a software engineer working on a complex, ongoing website. It has a lot of moving parts and a small team of UI designers and business folks adding new features and tweaking old ones. Over the last year or so, we've added hundreds of interesting little edge cases. Planning, implementing, and testing them is not a problem. The problem comes later, when we want to refactor or add another new feature. Nobody remembers half of the old features and edge cases from a year ago. When we want to add a new change, we notice that code does all sorts of things in there, and we're not entirely sure which things are intentional requirements and which are meaningless side effects. Did someone last year request that the login token was supposed to only be valid for 30 minutes, or did some programmers just pick a sensible default? Can we change it? Back when the product was first envisioned, we created some documentation describing how the site worked. Since then we created a few additional documents describing new features, but nobody ever goes back and updates those documents when new features are requested, so the only authoritative documentation is the code itself. But the code provides no justification, no reason for its actions: only the how, never the why. What do other long-running teams do to keep track of what the requirements were and why?

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