Well - it’s finally here. Get your dose of the new LUGRadio episode here. I’ve already listened - it’s quality.

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Warning: MayWill contain swearing and adult themes

BigAl has buggered off to Portugal for a couple of weeks, so I’m all on my own on the blog. I was thinking about getting a guest author or two to submit some blog entries, so if you would like to be a special guest author on the infamous ‘Moose, then drop me a line or two at mrben -at- jedimoose -dot- org

mrBen

Apparently…..

mrBen

Sign the Petition demanding that Microsoft Office supports the OpenDocument format.

Having an open standard for document format is good news for everyone. Whether or not you are an MS Office user, you should sign this petition.

mrBen

Oh yes

mrBen

…don’t try and pretend you do.

I am fed up with ‘progress’ bars in software that pretend to let you know what’s going on, when they really don’t have a clue. Here’s a short couple of pointers for using progress bars:

• If there is a known finite number of actions to be performed, then a progress bar is excellent
• If there is a known, even approximate, time frame, then this can be used too.
• If there are steps to be undertaken, show them, and then cross them out as they are taken.
• Do not use multiple progress bars one after the other, without displaying a list of the number of tasks that will be done
• Do not, in any circumstances, use one of these useless progress bars where the bar slides across and back (WindowsXP startup anyone? or Firefox installer?). Use something that represents a reality - a spinner, or something that says “I’m still working, but I don’t know for how long”. False hope is evil.

Here endeth the lesson.

mrBen

Following comments on my previous entry I have mocked up the below image. I am so not a designer it’s untrue….

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Click for full size

• Top row = workspaces. The green N will open a new workspace, with only a desktop tab in the third row. The red X closes the currently selected workspace.
• Middle row = launcher. The ‘Start’ button opens up a menu on the third row (more on that later). The text box in the middle allows you to type in (and autocomplete) application names which launch in new tabs. The icon bar at the end is for icon application launchers.
• Third row = apps. The desktop tab works much like the ‘clear desktop’ option that most DEs have already. The others work like a mix between the taskbar (where the apps sit in Windows/other DE) and the title bar (it should include maximise, minimise and close icons, but I forgot to add them in). N and X work like in the top row; X will close an app, N will open a new tab to launch from (not sure if this is necessary, as there are already 3 ways to do this…..).
• When you click start, the third row is replaced with a series of drop-down menus (I’m sure it would slide across in a nice animated way).

Looking at this now, I guess you could probably acheive most of this with an existing window manager. The main difference, I reckon, is that the “desktop” is treated like any other window/application - clicking on it doesn’t minimise everything else, it merely brings the ‘desktop’ to the front of the stack, making your desktop icons ‘n’ stuff more accessible, and thus actually useful.

Aw hell - it was just a random thought……

mrBen

I’ve banged on in the past about usability quite a bit - it’s something that crosses my mind every now and then. I was listening earlier today to S2E22 of LUGRadio, where they have an interview with the writer of Symphony OS and it stirred it all up again.

And thus I thought about the following idea for a desktop interface:

The idea revolves around the idea of a tabbed interface. Those of use who are using Firefox (and if not, why not?) or Lotus Notes (shudder) will be well used to this kind of interface. In additional, pretty much everyone uses a kind of tabbed interface that is the taskbar in Windows, MacOS, KDE and GNOME. And so it got me thinking:

• Virtual Desktops occupy a tabbed interface at the top of the screen
• Applications occupy a tabbed interface on the 3rd ‘line’ of the screen, but with functionality slightly more like the window title bar (see below)
• The “desktop” as we know it occupies one of the tabs, rather than being ‘behind’ everything
• The 2nd line is taken up with a launch text input (autocomplete with programs as you type), and other launch icons
• The Start menu is replaced by a button on the second line that brings up an extra set of ‘tabs’ that are drop-down menus of programs
• The system tray should probably go somewhere, not decided where yet

While this may sound a little cluttered at the top of the screen, I still think that the tabbed interface has definite advantages, and removing the desktop into a tab means that it is much more easily accessible.

I’ll try and put up some demo-type screenshots once I get something GIMPed together.

mrBen

Quick pimpage here for a new online shop for geek t-shirts. This particular shop has been set up by none other than Sparkes, one of the original LUGRadio presenters.

Check it out here.

mrBen

As you may have seen from the sidebar, it’s not long now until the beginning of LUGRadio Season 3. In honour of this, I have put together a short trailer (really needs music though) promoting the series. It’s probably not going to make much sense to anyone who’s not already listened to a chunk of LR, but there you go.

Can’t wait for the season to begin. If you’ve not started listening to the premier Open Source / Linux radio show, then head over to http://www.lugradio.org and start downloading the 35 shows from the first 2 seasons…..

mrBen

So I was round at Dinoman’s house last night trying to fix problems with his 2 computers - 1 laptop, 1 desktop. 2 hours worth of fiddling problem determination, and the only thing I fixed was the popup on his LCD saying he’s using the wrong resolution (which he _is_, but who am I to judge).

Why is so amazingly difficult to ascertain the nature of a problem on Windows?!?!?! It bugs the hell out of me. You have no way of telling if it’s a hardware problem, or software. You spend hours on trial and error methods, having to reboot each time, and it takes an age. There are no system logs to check whether somethings working or not. And I’m _still_ not entirely sure what the problem is, although it’s probably hardware related in some way. But even if the hardware is replaced, I’m not entirely convinced that Windows is going to get it working properly without fiddling.

The other problem was just as annoying - trying to get a USB adsl modem working. It installed fine, except that Window wouldn’t find the installed drivers. And wouldn’t take them from the CD. And wouldn’t uninstall any of it - just crashed it.

I’m so thankful I’m a Linux user, and don’t have to worry about all that crap.

mrben

Just when I’d worked out my wrath on the incorrect use of podcasting, The Gadget Show manage to trump themselves this week with a piece on whether Macs or PCs were better.

First a bit of background - in a previous series TGS did a piece on Macs vs PCs, and came to the conclusion that PCs were basically better value for money - more choice of cheaper hardware, easier to upgrade and fix, and a better range of software (esp games). They were, of course, inundated with letters from the orange-shades-wearing section of the community, who demanded a recount. Hence the section this week.

There were some serious problems with this piece - I shall try and summarise:

• The Mac guy happily interchanged Windows and PC many times. Not only is this offensive to us x86-based Linux users, but it makes it very confusing as to what he’s actually defending - MacOS or Apple hardware.
• One of the basic tenets of the argument was that an Apple looks better than a PC. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and, personally, my computer sits in the corner of a room where nobody sees it anyway. And there are lots of cool-looking PCs out there anyway…..
• He then moved on to the fact that MacOS (shifting nicely from hardware to software arguments) is less susceptible to viruses and the like. But that’s only if you’re running Windows on your PC, and not Linux. Thus this argument is null and void.
• A large chunk of his argument was about iLife, and how it was great. I’m sure it is, and I know it’s bundled with MacOS these days. But I’m not entirely sure that it’s a good argument between Macs ‘n’ PCs
• He argued that MacOS looked nicer. I guess he might be right out of the box, but even Windows can be made to look good. It’s such a superfluous argument.
• Lastly, he argued that it would be easier for people to use a Mac, and that they’d look good doing it. Sorry - not convinced

Ultimately, his argument came down to 2 points - Macs are pretty, and MacOS > Windows.

Meh. Whatever.

They need to split up the argument between hardware and software. Once you do that, you get to these points:

Hardware:

• PC hardware is better value for money, pound for pound. There’s lots of choice, keeping the prices down, and it’s easier to repair and upgrade.
• Mac hardware looks better than the majority of commodity PC hardware. Although even that’s debatable

Software:

• MacOS (these days) comes with more software than Windows, and I suspect that the quality of that software is probably better too. (iLife > Windows MovieMaker (etc) from what I can gather) Neither come with nearly as much software as Linux.
• MacOS is more secure than Windows. But Linux is still probably better…..
• MacOS software is pretty. Whether it’s prettier than other software is highly debatable, although probably out of the box it is.

Conclusion: If you’re a poser, and like your orange sunglasses , then you might want to get a Mac. For certain niche markets, it might also be a good purchase. But most people are probably better off with a PC (running Linux ). Of course, Apple is moving to x86 hardware, so all this is null and void, isn’t it?

mrBen

I’m generally a fan of Channel Fives ‘The Gadget Show’ - in the past they’ve done a couple of reasonable (not perfect, but pretty good) sections on Linux and Firefox. But in the show from last week they made a mistake that is getting made a lot, and is really frustrating me:

If you record a bunch of rubbish, create an MP3, and put it on the internet, you are _not_ podcasting. It only becomes podcasting if the method of distribution is via an RSS-feed and the corresponding podcasting client.

Thanks - you can go back to work enlightened now.

mrBen

No, this is not a post about the lastest in a string of Premiership disappointments for Liverpool, but rather about Doom3.

Over the weekend I completed the Doom3 demo - I’ve had the demo for a while, but my overly darkened monitor (now replaced) and the fan-related problems with my box conspired against me. But now, with a new gfx card to boot, I was ready to rock.

You may remember me saying that Return to Castle Wolfenstein was my favourite FPS of all time. So I was particularly interested to see how Doom3 would fare, in particular because one of my bugbears about RtCW was the zombies, and Doom3 is, well, chocked full of the beasties.

I managed to get the full game cheap on ebay the other day, and it should arrive this week, so I’ll reserve some judgement for when I play (and hopefully complete) that, but for now, here are some first impressions from the demo level.

It feels a lot like a cross between Half-Life and RtCW in gameplay - the plot is similar to HalfLife, but it’s been kept pretty linear in terms of getting through the levels. There were one or two little puzzles and bonuses hidden about too, just to keep things interesting. Being able to talk to characters, and the slightly more interactive feel gave it a Half-Life aura too. As I’ve said before - I _like_ something to be relatively linear. It gives me a feeling that I’m actually getting somewhere, something that I really struggled with in HL.

The graphics and sound are excellent - extremely atmospheric, making it very scary in places. I expect that to get worse in later levels. Let’s hope my heart can cope with the pressure….. Did I mention that it looks fantastic especially with all the textures turned up on my new kit

The weapons on the demo are fairly standard - a wimpy pistol that’s not up to much, and where headshots are the order of the day, a shotgun that kicks ass, and a machine gun that has annoyingly small clips, but useful at times (usually just _after_ you pick up the weapon ). Getting shot is a trial too - lots of movement particularly when being hit by a machine gun makes it hard to aim. But that’s a good thing.

A lot has been said about the use of darkness in the game. Generally, I think it’s been done very well. Using the flashlight is great, although frustrating. I personally think that you should be able to hold a flashlight and your pistol (but none of the two-handed weapons), rather than just the flashlight. (Hark at me! flashlight by which I mean “torch” )

As I mentioned in my earlier writings, I like the use of the PDA. It’s a great way of holding information, but also progressing the story, and providing some backfill to the plot.

So - what of the downsides. Well, there are a couple that I can think of at this point. Firstly, you do get used to the signs that a baddie is just round the corner - lights flickering off, and things like that. You do, however, get scared by an extra one every now and then. Probably the most frustrating thing for me came from a combination of 2 things: good textures and no “use” key.

There are a lot of textures in the game, but it’s not always obvious what is interactive and what isn’t. I kept trying to open panels, and shoot ventilation grills. Worse still, I am used to use the ‘Use’ key from other games (normally F for me) to open panels, which brings out my flashlight - that could get old quickly

More on this once the real thing arrives.

mrBen

Notwithstanding my own thoughts about Apple, I read with interest the views of “the media” over the recent iPod Nano scandal in this mornings Herald. However, I take exception to some of the statements made, and it made me think about the joys of hindsight.

The author states that “Macs are hip; PCs are from the Land of Geek”. I wonder if this is really a perception that is held. Maybe it’s held by Mac users, but given the wide variety of people who use PCs, I can’t believe that it’s true.

One of the references she uses to back this statement up is that “when a producer wants to stamp a character with inelecutable cool, they will show them using a Mac”, giving Mission Impossible, Independence Day, Spooks, and Sex in the City as examples. In reality, I believe that this phenomena happened for a number of different reasons, although whether it is still the case today is debatable:

• Apple have always placed a great deal of emphasis on product placement in film. Nothing to do with cool, everything to do with a big cheque from Steve Jobs.
• Apples are noticeable because they are Apples. A PC is such a wide, generic, brandless term, that it’s not noticeable.
• It is, now, by no means the rule. The highly excellent 24 series is all Dell machines. Alias is well known in some circles for sporting the KDE desktop (which, I admit, does run on PPC hardware, but is usually shown on generic PC hardware).

The author then goes on to note that Apple started with a “dream” - the 2 Steves coming together to build good-looking machines that would be easy to use. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember any of the early Apple machines being notable for their looks. The “fashion-symbol” status is something that is relatively new in the life of Apple.

When it comes down to it, this article is less about what Apple _are_, and more about what their marketting department would have you believe that they are. And the Apple marketting guys are, I have to admit, very good at their job. To talk to the average Joe on the street today, you would believe that Apple invented the MP3 player, and the MP3 download site.

sigh

mrBen