Google Wave

I just got access to Google Wave and I have invitations to share! Who wants to try it?

Numpty Physics Ubuntu package

I’ve made a Ubuntu deb package for the addictive 2D puzzle game Numpty Physics. Numpty Physics is a free and open sourced clone of the popular Windows game Crayon Physics, but allows more diverse painting objects. Here is a screenshot from the title screen:

To install on Ubuntu Hardy, add my PPA (Personal Package Archive) to you software sources list (System->Administration->Software sources)

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/sonofjon/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/sonofjon/ubuntu hardy main

and then install the package with the Synaptic package manager or simply by writing in the terminal

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install numptyphysics

A Ubuntu Intrepid version is available through Per Hansen’s PPA:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/phobie/ubuntu intrepid main

Alternatively you can simply download the deb located here and install with your preferred method, for example in the terminal do:

sudo dpkg -i numptyphysics_0.2~svn20080701-0ubuntu1_i386.deb

or simply use the package installer (Gdebi).

This is the first program I have ever packaged for Ubuntu. I followed the excellent guide here. Please provide feedback if I got something wrong.

Deb packages for Numpty Physics are also available here, but they appear to be only for hand held devices at the moment.

You can download user submitted levels from here and store in ~/.numptyphysics, or you can draw your own levels with the built in level editor (press E to start it).

Hope you have fun with it!

Open source software: my first contribution

Today, I made my first ever contribution to the open source software community!  I’ve been a long-time user of Linux and I’ve come to like it so much that I don’t think I could ever go back to using a closed source software platform, such as Microsoft Windows.

Anyway, I’ve been eying the the open source community from a distance, wanting somehow to contribute back, and perhaps get involved with some interesting project. However, not having a whole lot of spare time on my hands and having limited programming skills, I haven’t quite gotten around to accomplish anything, until now.

Today, however, I finally made it happen. I ‘ve submitted some translations for an awesome open source media player. I feel quite proud of making this first step, and I am surprised how easy it was to get started. Just a quick on-line registration and then a few clicks later I was raving away doing translations. Hopefully I will be able to make further contributions now that I know how easy it is to get involved.