Friday, March 27, 2009

Toys For the iLiad.

Amazing how every little device comes with a lot of bits and pieces to make it more useful. My first SLR I needed 2 camera bags and a lot of stuff about keeping it clean.. My 17 inch laptop needed 2 laptop cases and a bunch of other stuff. My iLiad comes with a list of equipment that I need to make it more useful and just fun to own.

Due to the power management issues. I'm adding Travel Hub and a extra power cord. I can have one set at home and plugged in and one set in it's own little case so that I can carry it with me. Oh did I forget to tell you about the case to carry that in? I have to keep them together and neat.

The stylus is the same small stylus that comes with most electronic equipment. My plot is order a replacement stylus and a better one for the book cover. The one in the book cover I'll use most of the time. It maybe a replacement for a tablet PC. The pens I have for my Acer is very comfortable. I can use that all day long. I just have to find some cheaply. When I bought them they were 14 dollars now everyone seems to think they were a 100 dollar commodity.

A black leather book cover on an ebook reader is like a wedding dress on a bride. How can you have an ebook reader with out one of these. You really just can't and an iLiad you need a place to put your pen/stylus and your extra cards and stuff. I've also found InvisibleSheild this stuff covers the entire device and it is like armour. It's scratch proof and good protection for all electronic devices that you want to let sit around nude (with out a hard case). I just find this needed because fingers and dirt can get on anything.

That's my shopping list beside the memory cards. I got an SD card today. I'm going to get a big CF card for books and a little card for reflashing. Let the games begin

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Virtualization and Software development

Well in my last post I was talking about the eBook reader that I'm lusting over. I wrote about how it's Linux based and I wanted to try my hand at some Linux C++ development. The question is how is that software written and how is the stuff developed and tested.

The answer was found on the mobile reader pages. I found that there is a software development kit (SDK) to write and port the software. The SDK comes on a Linux VMware virtual computer. You can install it and then compile and cross compile to check for compile errors and run tests.

I'm a windows based software developer. I code in C#.NET and Visual Basic. I've been really spoiled by Microsoft with Visual Studio. I like the IDE. I like having it find code snippets and edit my code. I like WYSIWYG interface. Linux command line coding and remembering commands wasn't going to work for me. I went to my normal freeware development spot and found an IDE.

The IDE I settled is called codeBlock. I think this one looks and seems to function most like the Visual Studio that I'm use to. Ok I found my weapon of choice. I now need to know what else I need.

I read the posts and wikis and downloaded the SDK. I also got VMware Player and the SDK. I learned how to build the tool chain. I also learned how to build the scratchpad to program and test my ports. I also found information on installing Ubuntu Linux in a Microsoft Virtual PC.

Step one Install Ubuntu in a Virtual PC: I choose this form of virtualization because this is the one that I'm most familiar with. I know how this works and I figured I could make this work well for me. It's already installed on all the pc's in the house because of stuff I did with the Philly.Net group. This was very confusing at first from the YouTube video I found some information on the ubuntu website. Win

Step Two follow the toolChain instructions: I found the Terminal (don't ask I like FreeBSD better) I was able to enter the commands and spent my day building my sandbox and my tool chain. I had earlier downloaded all the sources for the iLiad. I did a quick copy over by mounting my filesystem and doing a quick mount.

Step Three download and install my IDE: I went to the website and did another download. I made copies of the orignal sources at this time so I can go back. I think I'm done for now tile I start working on this project.

I have to install SVN and get a paid hosting service so I can start working on modifying the existing code to do what I want. I also have to you know order the iliad.

Well this was surpose to be about Virtualization. I think I missed my topic here but as you can see I have a system with a fresh OS and tools to start developing on my old beat up laptop. This is kinda cool if you ask me. 2 Computers one machine.