NetBeans Session

NetBeans The Only IDE You Need!
This is the title of my first session as OSUM Leader (Speaker i mean )for this year,it was targeting first year student of computer science students.
As it's clear from the title the sessions objective was to introduce these students to new OPEN SOURCE IDE which is our main application we use (Software Developer). I think that i had done my job as i think they knew the importance and the difference between NETBEANS and any other IDE.
it took about 50 mins. and here are some pictures for this event .........

 

 

finally i would like to thanks all OSUM Team who really helped to make this event successful one.

C++ Sufferring

     It seems that the whole world is working against me these days . after my suffering with C++ assignment our  TA made us a project to deliver within 2 weeks and the most beautiful thing it will be coded using C++ not only this but it must include GUI (Graphical User Interface) with C++.
     It will be delivered next Saturday and until now i had not write a single line of code,as i am still confused i had not taken my decision yet whether i will wirte it with Qt or MFS ,but i prefer QT as its Used on Open Source IDE.  I hope it will be a good one not a buggy one and deliver it ondate.

First C++ Assignment

Today i had delivered my first C++ Assignment in my entire life . first it was a horrible language until i got used to it , many pointer are moving every where i couldn't trace the pointers they were like mice running every where and anytime.
i was really lost in this assignment  however i was getting help from C++ book and a lot of tutorials, but what really helped me was NetBeans Debugger. it's a wonderful debugger you must try it .
This assignment was a week later than the C assignment so i had a wonderful mix between these .......  languages . really i hate them & i adore JAVA.

so finally i had concluded one thing that C/C++ are made for those who want to kill themselves ,but JAVA is the solution for everything.

Out Of Scope:

• This is sarcastic opinion no more no less i really knows what is the importance of C/C++ but this opinion springs from my suffering from C.
  

5 Famous Geeks

These are the most famous geeks who dropped out of university and they never finished their education.
i wish i didn't finish my education to be like them :):):)

1) Michael Saul Dell:

When he was 15 he used to take apart Apple II computers and rebuild it just for the hell of it. He dropped out of University of Texas to run PC’s Limited (now Dell) at the age of 19.


2) Steve Jobs:

Apple Computers with Steve Wozniak – NeXT Computer – Pixar Animation. Dropped out of Reed College only after one semester.

3) Bill Gates:

Best known for Microsoft. Dropped out of Harvard to start a software company with Paul Allen. After more than 30 years, Microsoft is still one of the largest software companies in the world.


4) Paul Allen:

Paul Allen was the other half of Microsoft with Bill Gates the same way Steve Wozniak was a partner with Jobs on Apple. He dropped out of Washington State University to work as a programmer.



5) John Carmack:

Cofounder of id Software and lead programmer of famous games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Doom. He dropped out of University of Missouri only after 2 years to work as a freelance programmer.

Referenece:see this Link

Ubuntu after 5 years

20th of cotober 2009 was the fifth anniversary of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. Today Ubuntu is the star of the Linux desktop and has achieved a level of popularity that is unprecedented among the various open source operating system.

Brief History:

The Ubuntu Linux distribution is named after an African philosophical principle which holds that the betterment of the individual and community are interconnected.this philosophy is then redefined into Ubnutu Code of Conduct.

This code is simple set of rules that Ubuntu members committed to follow and it encourages respectful and considerate collaboration to make Ubuntu more inclusive and welcoming to new contributors.

What makes Ubuntu Different :

-Short, time-based release cycles

Ubuntu is characterized by its short release cycle as it kept a constant six-month cycle based on the GNOME release model.This allowed the user to keep up_to_date .There is 12 Released available now and there is a new release on its way to be released on 29 April 2010.it's aminly released in april and in cotober every year since 2004 .

-Easy installation from a single CD image

it's installation is very easy process and Ubuntu could be Booted from a CD to try it first before installing.you don't have to handle any packages or anything during installation .its size is about 700 MB .

-Ubuntu Development

Ubuntu is developed through an open community process. Anyone with the necessary technical skills can contribute to the development of Ubuntu. If you want to learn, you can find a mentor within the development team to help you along.
Information about the development of Ubuntu can be found in the developer documentation, which is maintained in the wiki. It explains how the development team is structured, provides technical information about developing Ubuntu, and indexes other useful resources for current and prospective Ubuntu developers.

-Convenient access to useful proprietary components

Although the Ubuntu developers aim to provide a free and open desktop, the distro makes it easy to install important proprietary components that many users require to have a functioning Linux system. The difficulty of installing these bits on other mainstream Linux distributions had previously been an impediment to many prospective Linux adopters. Ubuntu's restricted driver tool will automatically detect and optionally install proprietary drivers that are required by the user's hardware. The distro also includes a codec tool that will help users install the GStreamer packages that they need to play certain video content.

reference: www.wikipedia.com

Try this Link

Nobel honours 'masters of light'

By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News

Three scientists who corralled light to transform our communications systems share this year's physics Nobel Prize.

Charles Kao is lauded for his work in the UK in helping to develop fibre optic cables, the thin threads of glass that carry phone and net data as light. Willard Boyle and George Smith, both North Americans, are recognised for their part in the invention of the charge-coupled device, or CCD. This light detector initiated the digital camera revolution. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which administers the prize, said half of the award would go to Kao, who was born in Shanghai, China, in 1933 and holds UK-US citizenship. It was his insight while working in Britain in the 1960s, said the academy, which allowed researchers to take fibre optics to a new level - to enable these thin cables to transmit light over much longer distances than had previously been possible. Kao's team at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in Harlow proposed the means to improve dramatically the purity - and therefore the efficiency - of the glass material used to construct the fibres. Today, fibre optics underpin the communication age. The hair-like cables speed data around the globe in the form of rapid pulses of light. The modern telephony system is built on the technology, and high-speed broadband internet would not be possible without it.

Wondrous views

The other half of the prize is to be split between Boyle, aged 85, and Smith, 79. Their breakthrough was made at Bell Laboratories in the US. The North Americans' group invented the first digital sensor, a CCD (charge-coupled device), in 1969.

The CCD contains arrays of photosensitive cells which become charged when light falls on them. The more light, the greater the charge. The chip reads out this signal, which can then be used to render an image. The academy said the work of Canadian-born Boyle and US citizen Smith "revolutionised photography, as light could be now captured electronically instead of on film". While the technology delivered instant pictures to the masses, CCDs have also transformed scientific observation. Specialist detectors are now incorporated into the imaging systems of all space missions. The Hubble telescope, for example, records its wondrous views of the cosmos on CCDs. And the vivid landscapes of Mars returned by robotic vehicles have also been captured on charge-coupled devices. Such is the pace of change that CCDs are themselves being overtaken by CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology. This works in a related fashion but runs cooler, is more efficient and is cheaper to produce.
Dr Robert Kirby-Harris, from the UK's Institute of Physics, celebrated the announcement. "Ours is the age of information and images, and no two things better symbolise this than the internet and digital cameras," he said. "From kilobytes to gigabytes, and now to petabytes and exabytes, information has never been so free-flowing or, with the development of the CCD, so instantly visual. These incredible inventors who have been responsible for transforming the world in which we live very much deserve their prize." The Nobel Prizes - which also cover chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics (more properly called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize) - are valued at 10m Swedish Kronor (£900,000; 1m euros; $1.4m). Laureates also receive a medal and a diploma. This year's medicine Nobel, announced on Monday, honoured the study of telomeres, the structures in cells that cap the ends of DNA bundles, or chromosomes. The work has furthered our understanding on human ageing, cancer and stem cells.

Microsoft launches Windows phones

By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

Mobiles sporting the latest release of the Windows Mobile operating system are now available for sale worldwide.

Microsoft is also formally launching its application store, known as Windows Marketplace for Mobile. While the service will launch with about 60 applications available in the UK, Microsoft's Alex Reeve said that number will soon rise sharply. Windows-run phones can also make use of the My Phone service, a synchronisation service managed "in the cloud". The new operating system and the application store were first announced in February, when a "beta" testing version of the My Phone service also launched. Tuesday's announcement sees a full integration of handsets incorporating the new OS with access to the store and backup service. Microsoft has partnered with major network operators T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone and Orange in the UK, as well as with Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U to distribute handsets made by a wide range of manufacturers. The expansion - as well as the rebranding to "Windows phones" - are an effort to increase market share in the mobile handset world, where Windows currently holds about 9%. "I think one of the fundamental advantages that we have...is the amount of choice there is in terms of hardware choice and platforms, and that just keeps going and going," said Alex Reeve, Microsoft's director of mobile business in the UK.

'Right there'

The OS update - the first since March 2008 - is viewed as minor, as Microsoft is developing a more complete overhaul of the OS. The result of that, Windows Mobile 7, should be released in early 2010. Significant changes in the 6.5 release include a move away from the use of the stylus and toward more finger-friendly icons and buttons, and a push to see more "at a glance" from the lock screen and the main menus. The operating system comes bundled with Internet Explorer Mobile 6. Speaking at the launch, Mr Reeve admitted that "this is an area where Microsoft probably hasn't kept up with the market as well as we should have in the past, but with now with the new version, we're right there".
It includes a significantly updated user interface and Flash Lite for viewing video and animation content. The My Phone service is also updated compared to the beta version. Users can both backup and manage their applications and multimedia content via the My Phone service, accessible also on a PC. The service offers 200MB of storage for free. Photos can be published from the My Phone site or directly from a Windows Phone to popular sites such as Facebook and Flickr. Security features offered for free include the ability to map the last place a phone was synchronised to the My Phone service. A further, paid "premium package" allows a suite of security features including the ability to locate a handset's current location, present an "if found" message to its screen, or lock it or erase its contents altogether. The premium service is at the time of launch only available in the US. The Windows Marketplace will launch with applications including Facebook and MySpace and a raft of popular game titles. It also offers a no-questions-asked return policy on the applications it sells. While the number of applications at the time of launch is just 60 in the UK (and about 250 worldwide), Mr Reeve said that there is a large backlog of applications that will soon be approved and become available. He added that Microsoft's heritage will drive further development of applications for Windows phones. "One of the great things for Microsoft is that the developer market is in our DNA; we've got a huge background working with developers, so when it comes to building applications for mobile we've got a great opportunity."

Brazil's bid for tech-powered economy

By Tayfun King

At first glance Florianopolis, in southern Brazil, resembles the quintessential picture postcard resort. It has become one of South America's most popular destinations, a magnet for sun seekers.
But for all its hedonism, Florianopolis has its gaze firmly fixed on something altogether more serious - becoming the regional technological powerhouse. Sapiens Parque science park is the $1.3bn (£81m) brainchild of the Brazilian government, as part of a wider $24bn (£15bn) initiative to promote science and technology in the country. "When we talk about the amount of money that Brazil is investing in science, technology and innovation… compared to the other countries in South America, we are talking about ten times more," says Jose Eduardo A Fiates, executive director of Sapiens Parque. But for all the talk of the money, it is tangible innovation that the region wants to shout about - and the investment is spawning a variety of solutions to very local problems.

Over the limit

One Florianopolis innovativon helps protect beach-goers from staying too long in the sun. The Ozon-in information point currently lies in pole position to become a familiar sight up and down beaches around the world.At a glance it gives you a readout of UV radiation severity - and recommends protective measures to take, according to skin-type. Florianopolis inventors have also helped with another red-hot issue in Brazil: drink-driving. Engineers at the science centre have created the Bafometro, an in-car breathalyser that disables the engine - unless the driver passes a breath test. It takes a photo of the driver, and alerts authorities if they are over the limit. "What makes the new model of Bafometro unique is the capability to transmit images wirelessly. With this, it removes doubt as to whether the person tested was the one driving or not," says Dhelyo Rodrigues, president of CSP, which manufactures the Bafometro.

That means companies can monitor their drivers from afar, and police can have test results and photographic evidence immediately transmitted to stations. Alongside the newer gadgets goes more venerable tech that has changed the old-style politics of Brazil. Designed to combat electoral fraud, the electronic voting machine was launched nationally in 2000. And it was after the debacle of the Bush-Gore US election that this particular gadget put Florianopolis on the international technology map. "The electronic voting machine guarantees the authenticity of the person who is voting by digital printing, making the system more infallible against electoral corruption," says Luiz Henrique da Silveira, the governor of Santa Catarina.
It might not look like a very advanced piece of technology, maybe more like something from the 1970s - but that is one of its strengths. The voting machines are very robust and have a 12-hour battery life. This means during elections it can be transported to the most remote regions

Why Linux is Better

Why copy software illegally if you can get it for free?

So, you're perfectly clean, you have *cough* purchased a license for all the software you've ever used *cough*, and nobody can bother you about this? Well, if that's the case, congratulations :) However, for most people, let's be honest, illegally copied software is very common. Copying Adobe Photoshop instead of buying it probably doesn't let you have nightmares. But are you really confident that you won't ever have trouble for that? Not so sure, huh... Software makers are progressing and finding more and more ways to track down illegal owners, and since more and more people tend to have broadband (permanent) connections, they might add an online functionality on the software that will control and verify your copy each time you launch it. If you run Linux and install free software, you won't have to worry about this ever again! Most of free (as in free speech) software is free (as in free beer). You can find a free replacement for most of the commercial software out there. They might lack some of the advanced functionality, but they'll be more than enough for most people. Here's a list of some commercial software, and their open source equivalents :

Commercial	Open source	Exists on Windows?
Adobe Illustrator (~$500)	Inkscape	Yes
Adobe InDesign (~$700)	Scribus	Yes
Adobe Photoshop (~$600)	The GIMP	Yes
Adobe Premiere (~$800)	Kino, Cinelerra	No
Adobe Reader (free)	Evince, Kpdf, GV	No
Apple iTunes (free)	AmaroK, Rhythmbox, Banshee	No
Autodesk 3ds Max (~$3500)	Blender	Yes
Autodesk Maya (~$7000)	Blender	Yes
Kazaa (free)	aMule, eMule	Yes
Microsoft Excel (~$200)	OpenOffice Spreadsheet	Yes
Microsoft Internet Explorer (free)	Firefox, Konqueror	Yes
Microsoft Office (~$400)	OpenOffice	Yes
Microsoft Windows Mail (free)	Thunderbird, Evolution, KMail	Yes
Microsoft Powerpoint (~$200)	OpenOffice Presentation	Yes
Microsoft Windows Media Player (free)	Mplayer, VLC, Totem, Kaffeine, Xine	Yes
Microsoft Word (~$200)	OpenOffice Word Processor	Yes
Microsoft Windows Messenger (free)	Pidgin, Kopete, aMSN	Yes
Nero (~$100)	K3b, Gnomebaker	No
Palm Desktop (free)	Gnome-Pilot, KPilot	No
Quark XPress (~$800)	Scribus	Yes
QuickTime Player (free)	Mplayer, VLC, Totem, Kaffeine, Xine	Yes
Winamp (free)	AmaroK, Rhythmbox, Banshee	No

Source Link

Iran tries to crack games market By Daniel Emery

Technology reporter, BBC News, Cologne


Video game developers from Iran have been exhibiting at a Western game convention for the very first time.Representatives from the trade body, the Iran National Foundation of Computer Games, were on hand at a dedicated stand at gamescom in Cologne. They were there to showcase the latest games developed in Iran, establish contacts, and to see if Western retailers would stock their games. But they acknowledged the political situation would make it a challenge. "We need more investors," said Amir Tarbyatjoui, head of Parsan Business Development Solutions who managed the Iranian stand. "The [US] sanctions do affect our industry, but they cannot stop it." 'More potential'Mr Tarbyatjoui said that Iran was becoming a leading player in video game development in the Middle East and that the event in Cologne was to show people just what they were capable of. "We are using this event to promote what is happening in the Iranian games industry," he said. "We believe we have more potential and we want to promote that potential." There were a number of different types of game on offer, including a tank shooter set at the start of the Iran-Iraq war, a platform adventure set in Persia, an adventure game where you play the role of a girl called Sara; a young student caught up in events during the early stages of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and a role-playing game called Age of Pahlevans based on Iranian mythology. Bahram Borgheai, head of Ras Games who make Age of Pahlevans, told the BBC that Iran has a rich history that was custom made for video games. "Persia has been around for a very long time," he said. Mr Borgheai said that while most Western developers used Greek, Norse, or Roman mythology to base their games on, Iran had its own unique mythology that has rarely been used in video games. "What we have is something quite unique and we are using the event in Cologne to show that to the world." Political difficultiesVideo-game development in Iran attracted global media attention in 2007 with the release of Special Operation 85: Hostage Rescue. The game saw two Iranian nuclear scientists kidnapped by Israel with players in the role of Iranian special forces sent to rescue them, while battling Israeli and American forces. However Mr Borgheai said he doubted if it was a real game in its own right. "We never heard about it in Iran," he said. "It certainly wasn't released there and the first I heard about it was through the international media," he said. "If it was made then I would guess they just took an existing game and stuck a few textures and the like onto it; it certainly wasn't a new game." The group said the event in Cologne had been a success and they would be back next year, but ruled out exhibiting at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. "It is difficult given the relations between Iran and the USA," said Mr Tarbyatjoui,. "Certainly all of us here today will be at E3 next year, but there will not be a dedicated Iran stand such as you see in Cologne today."

Software Freedom Day SFD @Alexandria University

Software Freedom Day first day (Opening Day)


it was a great opening much more than i had expected ,there was a lot of (too much bgd)of attendants.
we were proud for attaining trust of this big number of people.I think that every one attended our sessions is satisfied with our organizing for the event.
Nearly all the attendant got the Cds of OpenSource operating systems(ubuntu , openSolaris) and a lot got the sources for open source programs which replaces the closed ones.
the attendant were from different collages and faculties even they were in schools yet , i think this reflects that the OpenSource culture is beginning to be familiar her in Egypt .
the passion of the attendants was a great one as they really wanted to know about everything about the event (Sessions , Study Groups ,..etc).

Software Freeedom Day program

This event will last for 2 weeks starting on 1 september to 15 september .
this event will contain many activities such as:

1. Presentations covering wide range of Linux related topic

• Linux (Day to Day usage, Administration and Development).

• open Source programming languages (C, Java, PHP, Ruby and Python).

• closed Source replacements.

• Open Source Culture.

• Computer Security.

• The future of computing and the role of open source in the future.

2. Live Demos of installing, configuring and using FOSS.
3. Stands that provide on-site installation and information.
4. Study Groups that provide participants with guidelines to teach
themselves more about FOSS.
5. Contests held on different levels to urge participants to read a lot and
know more.

It's a pleasure to invite everyone in Alexandria to the festival and be sure you will benefit and enjoy your time.

for more information:
you can contact :

Ahmed Mohamed Saeed,Head of the Organizing Committee
Phone: 0112389430 –
Email:Ahmed.Saeed@Sun.Com.

you can visit this link

Software Freedom Day (SFD) @ Alexanderia UnIversity

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). The goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business -- in short, everywhere! The non-profit company Software Freedom International coordinates SFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organize the local SFD events to impact their own communities.


TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SFD Visit this LINK

Software Freedom International

"Software Freedom International" is a non-profit organisation that acts as the official organiser of the event, and allows organisers to take donations and enter into sponsorship contracts and to order and ship materials using official accounts.

Vision & Objectives

Vision:

It's is to empower all people to freely connect, create and share in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable.

Objectives :

1. to celebrate software freedom and the people behind it
2. to foster a general understanding of software freedom, encourage adoption of free software and open standards
3. to create more equal access to opportunities through the use of participatory technologies
4. to promote constructive dialogue on responsibilities and rights in the information society
5. to be inclusive of organizations and individuals that share our Vision
6. to be pragmatic, transparent, and responsible as an organization

EXTERNAL LINKS :

Software Freedom Day WebSite
Software Freedom International

Refrences :

www.wikipedia.com
www.softwarefreedomday.org

Open Source Software GNU 's Not Uinex

What's GNU?
What's GNU/Linux?
What's Free Software Philosophy?
What's GPL?

GNU:
It stands for GNU's Not Unix so you can say its a recursive name. this name refers to being Unix-like but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix Code .
Richard Stallman was the first one who started in GNU's development , he started working on it when he quit his job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence laboratory.Stallman wanted computer users to be free, free to study the source code of the software they use, free to share the software with other people, free to modify the behaviour of the software, and free to publish their modified versions of the software.This philosophy was later published as the GNU Manifesto in March 1985.

Linux:







It's a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel which is originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds.

GNU/Linux:
The Free Software Foundation views Linux distributions which use GNU software and they ask that such operating systems be referred to as GNU/Linux or a Linux-based GNU system. The media and common usage, however, refers to this family of operating systems simply as Linux, as do many large Linux distributions (e.g. Ubuntu and SuSE Linux). Some distributions use GNU/Linux (particularly notable is Debian GNU/Linux, on which Ubuntu is based), Linus Torvalds is against the GNU/Linux naming, stating that Linux is not a GNU project.

Free Software Philosophy:
Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in "free speech", not as in "free beer".
There is a difference between Open Source and Free Software as Open Source is a development methodology; Free Software is a social movement.

GNU/Linux Histrorical Timeline:

1969: Unix is developed
1983: The GNU Project launched by RMS
1991: Linux 0.01 ( 10k line of code, 1 user )
1994: Linux 1.0 ( 170k line of code, 100 thousand user)
1996: Linux 2.0 ( 400k line of code, 1.5 million user)
1998: Open Source Definition (4 Freedoms)
1998: Linux 2.1.11 ( 1.5M line of code, 7.5 million user)
1999: Linux 2.2: 12 million users

GNU/Linux users in Egypt

GPL:

Nobody should be restricted by the software they use. There are four freedoms that every user should have:

• the freedom to use the software for any purpose.
• the freedom to change the software to suit your needs.
• the freedom to share the software with your friends and neighbors.
• the freedom to share the changes you make.

When a program offers users all of these freedoms, we call it free software.

if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must:

• pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you received.
• make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code.
• show them these terms so they know their rights.
• there is no warranty for the GPL'd free software, and modified versions has to be marked as changed, so that their problems will not be attributed erroneously to authors ofprevious versions.

Open Source is Not a closed term for software only but it contain many other fields like :

• Web Designing: OSWD.org (Open Source Web Design), OpenDesigns.org , OpenWebDesign.org
• Learning: ChemCollective.org, k12EdCom.org
• Hardware: opencores.org
• General Knowledge: Wikipedia.org

References :
www.wikipedia.com
some other links
presentaion made by eng/Ahmed El-Mekkawy

Xbox

Description:

Manufacture : Microsoft
Type : Video Game Console
Units Sold : 24 million (may 10, 2006)
Operating System : highly modified Windows 2000 & XP
CPU : Custom 733 MHz Intel coppermine -based processor
Memory : 64 MB DDR SDRAM
Graphics : 233 MHz nVidia

Xbox Over View:

The Xbox was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe.It is the predecessor to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console.
It's first edition was developed by a small Microsoft team that included game developer
Seamus Blackley.it's first mention came in interview with CEO " Bill Gates " in late 1999.

Xbox 360:

In August 2005, Nvidia stopped the production of Xbox GPU(Graphics Processor Unit) that ends the production of Xbox & the release Xbox 360 . It's capibabilities (audio , storage & video) was much higher than that in Xbox.

Sytem Software:

It's operating system is a littile bit a windows XP & 2000 . It's userinterface is called the Xbox Dashboard.

Some Statisitics:

Region	Units Sold (as of May 10, 2006)	First available
North America	16 million	November 15, 2001
Europe	6 million	March 14, 2002
Asia	2 million	February 22, 2002
Worldwide	24 million