Free and Open Source blogger with an attitude
General thoughts and ideas
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According to the news I read from http://geekzone.co.nz, Nokia have made an annoucement that it’s Java-enabled Series 60 phone will include CDC (Connected Device Configuration) for the Java platform. This is a significant leap for the phone industry, because all of mobile available to the market today only supported CLDC.
According to the website, the introduction of enhanced configuration (CDC) in smartphones will drive opportunities for significant improvements in remote management of mobile devices and creating new business opportunities for Java platform software developers in the mobile middleware market.
New developer tools corresponding to the next generation Java platform for Series 60 will be made available in 2nd half 2005 by Nokia’s global developer support program, Forum Nokia.
w000h000, new SDK and smartphone for me to hack
p/s : Actually, i’ve been waiting for quite some time to get my hand into one of CDC enable-device. This is the time i’m waitin’ for…
Since there are so many people at my house need to use scanner for day-to-day stuff (actually only my sister). So we decided to get a Home/SoHo scanner, and naturally i’m the one who got to choose.
Browsing through few stores and places in Alor Star, finally i came across this entry-level SoHo Canon LiDE-20 model. It priced about RM220 at one computer shop at one shopping complex, but i decided to pass it down and bought the similar model in another place which doesn’t require high-maintenance bills, and it only cost my father RM195.
For starters, the scanner’s operation is straight forward. Once you installed the required software drivers in Windows XP the scanner is hot to be use (ok, nothing special about that, it’s normal with M$ Windows). But for a small price to pay, this scanner really roxx! It’s quick, responsive and have intelligent cropping feature that automatically separate items that i scanned together (to save time of course).
The scanner is slick and slim, and it features 3 button “Scan”, “Copy” and “Email”, and those buttons are configureable in it’s accompanying software driver which I promptly modified the “Email” button to do OCR.
After having fun setting up the scanner for my sister, only then i remembered, “Oh my god, how about Linux? I haven’t check the compatibility list before buying this out!”.
Fortunately, most (and i do mean most) of the USB devices now in Linux are just plug-and-play. It’s kinda hard to find USB devices without drivers in Linux nowadays. The Canon LiDE 20 is supported in Linux as I boot them! Well, at least on FC4 and Mandriva 10.2.
The scanner driver from The Sane Project works nicely, and theres no difference at all whether you scan your documents from M$ Windows or GNU/Linux.
For those who are interested in getting new hardware for your Linux pc I think the link below would be some help. Remember choose only hardware which have Linux driver with it, talk with your pocket :
1. Scanner Database
2. Digital Camera-PTP Mode, Mass Storage is always supported.
3. Webcam
4. WiFi
5. Bluetooth
6. Sound Cards
7. Network card
8. Most of Nvidia and ATI Graphic Cards (for 3D Gaming)
9. Almost all USB Mass Storage Device (Pendrive, HDD)
If you are lazy enough to check one, by one, then i suggest you to drop by Mandriva Hardware Compatibility Database. Check whether your hardware is supported by Linux. cheers…
Note : Some of the item of this list (notably no 4,7,8,9) are outdated, please be advised. Other item are maintained by their respective driver project.
Recommended Product
The CanoScan LiDE 20 USB flatbed scanner is one of the world’s most compact flatbeds, yet it offers big performance and big savings. Just over an inch high, it packs all the features you need to scan images, copy documents, and e-mail your favorite photos, all with one-touch operation.
News sources from the net revealed that the latest ThunderHawk Pocket PC 2.1 from BitStream will have Java 1.5.0 support. The PocketPC reportedly includes Java 1.5.0 full-desktop capabilities so that applets behave exactly the same on mobile devices as they do on desktop devices.
Previously PocketPC users have to be content with 3rd party JVM or the feature-limited JVM PersonalJava from Sun, both of them lacks the richness and robustness of a fully-featured Java(tm) Platform implementations
The company claim that robust Java support support was one of the top requests from both ThunderHawk subscribers and enterprise clients.
p/s :
Come to think of it, how many times have you encountered web page loaded with java applets nowadays? In 2005 alone, i’ve only encountered only one or two such webpage among hundreds of them that i surfed. The point is, in my point of view, java applets is scarce late these days. They may be cool in the late 90’s, but now it’s hard to find one page that even use a java applet.
Well I dont know how to write a good english essay, let alone write an inspiring one. But the story I want to present below is quite related to start a good and decent open source project that will definitely pay off.
Take a lesson from the Matchbox project which was published on Newsforge a couple of days ago. The project only started as innocent attempt by some guy name Matthew Allum, trying to use windows manager in devices which use small display screen. The main reason he created Matchbox was that there are no windows manager that can work on small display (240×320), FYI, the KDE window manager barely works in 640×480 display.
He later made a practice of publicizing the project on handhelds.org; he published the project on his page there and was well-known in the Linux on handhelds community. He garnered several speaking positions at big conferences like FOSDEM, Usenix, and Python, where he worked to dispel what he called the “myth of slow X.”
Months and months passed, his work unsuspectedly got recognized by one of the phone maker giants. His work on Matchbox caught Nokia eyes which offers him funding to continue his research on producing windows manager on their handheld device. So he did accept his offer and founded OpenedHand, a company whose sole purpose was to help Nokia to build windows manager for N770 Internet Table.
Now, the relationship between Nokia and Allum extends beyond his work on the window manager. “It got to the point where I could suggest new modules and they’d say, ‘go for it.'” Nokia has provided enough work to OpenedHand that it now employs four full-time developers, and it is hiring more.
There are other inspiring works that have been huge success, yet started at a humble open source project. Works that just first started as “scratching an itch” by developers.
For examples of other open source works which was hugely recognize is the infamous Linus Tovarlds and it’s Linux Kernel, Phil Katz with pkzip, Bram Cohen with BitTorrent and many more!
How about you? when will you start your own open source project?
Yes, that’s right, PLKN the Malaysian National Service will have Guns as part of their training. According to Vice Minister of Defense, the reason for the use of guns in PLKN is to increase the inner-strength and patriotism spirit in participants.
Guess they found out what attracted most youths this days, GUNS!! My house is already full of excitement of trigger happy boys after they learn about the news…. We can expect the numbers of willing participants to join PLKN will increase after MLKN implemented the module…
Way to go to PLKN, you are getting cool now !!