Eclipse and the GPL · 2006-11-03
Does anyone know if I create an Eclipse plugin application and license it under the GPL, can I distribute it with non-GPL (but free) Eclipse products?
Direct Connect Protocol Support · 2006-10-15
After smashing my head into a wall for two weeks wondering why I couldn’t connect to JXTA rendezvous peers correctly, it turns out that everyone is having the same problem.
Getting very frustrated with this, I’m thinking of pushing out the user interface as a seperate package and implementing a Direct Connect protocol backend with it. If nothing else, it’d be a decent client for Linux, but it would also allow other developers to play with and tweak the UI while I (or other people) worked on the decentralized backend (whether it’s JXTA or not).
Sometime after my two exams over the next two weeks.
Chat Support · 2006-10-03
There is a misconception that the program I’m working on is going to be a drop-in replacement for Direct Connect. It’s not and I don’t want it to be. While things like chat may be implemented as plugins, the main focus is secure file distribution.
Unfortunately, this is taking a lot longer than I expected. Work is taking lots of my time, I’m taking two classes, and I’m realizing that I don’t know Java. In the mean time, I’ve switched over to using the Eclipse RCP. I’m sorry that I haven’t provided any direction to the people who joined the project on Sourceforge, but I’m not to the point that I can have people do any work.
Eventually I’ll get some screenshots up.
Netbeans v. Eclipse · 2006-09-04
Because of my inexperience in developing GUIs, particularly in Java, I need a recommendation for a rich client platform. In particular, I would like to know which one is easier to use and maintain: Eclipse or Netbeans.
One of the key differences between the two is the use of Swing or SWT. While SWT enjoys the current advantage in speed and usablility on end platforms, it stands that the opening of Java will result in significant improvements for Swing’s performance.
On the other hand, Swing’s biggest advantage is the the MVC architecture that SWT lacks. Using a RCP with a GUI builder though, I’m unsure whether that will remain particularly useful.
So if anyone out there has experience developing end user applications using either of the RCP’s (both would be even better), I would love to hear about it. If you know of something that I haven’t even considered, I’d like to know that too. Send me an e-mail: umdhub at gmail dot com.
My Slowly Dying Computer · 2006-08-28
My desktop computer is slowly dying.
Fortunately, I have a laptop, so can get most things (e-mail, web, office stuff) done.
Unfortunately, my desktop has four times as much RAM as my laptop and about three times the clockspeed, so I do all of my development on there. My desktop is also about twice as old as my laptop and the motherboard is slowly dying. It’s been going for a while, but the rate that it’s collapsing is increasing.
The side effect of all of this is that I can’t get any Minilith development done because there isn’t a single Java IDE that will run acceptable in the paltry 256MB of RAM that my laptop has. Beyond that, it’s taking me time to back everything up off of my desktop and onto other computers or removable media.
Once I order an external HDD and some extra RAM for my laptop, and rescue my project off of my other computer, I’ll try to get rolling with it again just in time to start taking classes. On that note, if anyone is interested in helping me develop Minilith, get an account on Sourceforge . Then send me an e-mail (umdhub at gmail dot com) with your name on Sourceforge and I’ll add you onto the project. We’re working in Java, but even if you just want to learn the language, we can get you started with writing test constructs and build you up from there.