Development
Three-dimensional mesh graphics with Gmsh
Christophe Geuzaine and Jean-François Remacle have authored a graphics utility known as Gmsh.
![[Gmsh]](https://static.lwn.net/images/ns/gmshgr2.jpg)
Gmsh is an automatic 3D finite element mesh generator (primarily Delaunay)
with build-in CAD and post-processing facilities. Its primal design goal is
to provide a simple meshing tool for academic test cases with parametric
input and up to date visualization capabilities. One of its strengths is
the ability to respect a characteristic length field for the generation of
adapted meshes on lines, surfaces and volumes, and to mix these meshes with
simple structured grids.
Gmsh is built around four modules: geometry, mesh, solver and
post-processing. The specification of any input to these modules is done
either interactively using the graphical user interface or in ASCII text
files using Gmsh's own scripting language.
Some of the available Gmsh documentation includes the online reference manual and FAQ. The overview section of the documentation mentions a number of possible applications for Gmsh. As with most graphical software, the screenshots give you a good idea of the software's capabilities. Some interesting electrical, mechanical, and fluid engineering drawings are included.
Version 1.44 of Gmsh has been released. Changes include new documentation and PNG support, see the VERSIONS file for more information on the project's history.
Gmsh is a cross-platform project, it runs on Linux, various flavors of UNIX, and Windows. Gmsh has been licensed under the GPL, downloads are available here, tarballs and RPMs are available. Dependencies include the OpenGL libraries, GSL (>1.2), and FLTK 1.1.X.
System Applications
Clusters and Grids
OSCAR 2.2.1 released (SourceForge)
Version 2.2.1 of OSCAR has been announced. "The OSCAR working group is pleased to announce the release of version 2.2.1 of the Open Source Cluster Application Resources (OSCAR) toolkit. This release offers full IA-64 support with the inclusion of updated SIS and Kernel_Picker packages. OSCAR (Open Source Cluster Application Resource) is a snapshot of the best known methods for building, programming, and using clusters. It consists of a fully integrated and easy to install software bundle designed for high performance cluster computing."
Database Software
The Dynamic Duo of PEAR::DB and Smarty (O'ReillyNet)
Joao Prado Maia writes about Pear::DB and Smarty on O'Reilly. "It can be difficult to separate business logic and formatting in PHP. There are several good templating solutions, though, including the popular and powerful Smarty. Joao Prado Maia demonstrates how to use Smarty with a database back end through the PEAR::DB library."
Education
Linux in Education Report
Issue #94 of the Linux in Education Report is out. Topics include a genetic algorithm/evolutionary program, the Schoolforge UK status, an interview with David Trask on Linux at the Vassalboro Community School, the DistrictDNA administrative software package, some updated Linux training curricula, the YOUTH Technology Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, a new academic helpdesk application, and more.
Printing
CUPS 1.1.19rc2 available
Version 1.1.19rc2 of CUPS, the Common UNIX Printing System, has been released with a number of bug fixes. See the Release Notes for more information.
Web Site Development
Filters in Apache 2.0 (O'Reilly)
Geoffrey Young writes about Apache 2.0 and mod_perl on O'Reilly. "One of the more interesting and practical features to come out of the Apache 2.0 redesign effort is output filters. While in Apache 2.0 there are all kinds of filters, including input and connection filters, it's output filters that are most interesting to me - mostly because 2.0 discussions make a point of saying that it's impossible (well, really, really hard) to filter output content in Apache 1.3, despite the fact that mod_perl users have been able filter content (to some degree) for years."
Standards
TAG: Fragment Identifiers, Subsets, and Metadata (O'Reilly)
Kendall Grant Clark covers the latest progress from the W3C's Technical Architecture Group (TAG). "For a geeky journalist, or for anyone who cares about the infrastructure of the Web broadly conceived, watching the TAG can be an incredibly efficient use of one's time. Some of the most engaging, vital technical issues regularly fly over the TAG's transom--often in volumes which, or so I have suggested in the past, threaten to swamp TAG members. In short, if you want to take the technical pulse of the Web, surveying the lines and directions of its future development, watching the TAG at work is ideal."
Miscellaneous
Etherboot 5.0.10 (production) released
SourceForge has an announcement for a new version of Etherboot. "Etherboot is Open Source code for creating boot ROMs for network booting x86 platforms. It is also a coordination point for information about free software related to network booting. eepro100 users should give this release a try, hopefully it deals with the issues that caused the driver to be broken after 5.0.7."
Desktop Applications
Audio Applications
Glame 1.0.0 released
SourceForge has an announcement for version 1.0.0 of Glame. "Glame 1.0.0 is the first release of the stable series 1.0 that will be the last Gnome 1.x based one. Compared to the 0.6 series improvements were made to multitrack recording and speed. GLAME is targeted to be the GIMP for audio processing. Currently we support non destructive multitrack editing and recording, undo, redo, cut&paste and even realtime effects with OSS/ALSA."
Desktop Environments
Bitstream Vera Fonts 1.10 Released (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop has an announcement for a new release of the Bitstream Vera Fonts. "There are four monospace and sans faces (normal, oblique, bold, bold oblique) and two serif faces (normal and bold). Fontconfig/Xft2 can artificially oblique the serif faces for you: this loses hinting and distorts the faces slightly, but is visibly different than normal and bold, and reasonably pleasing."
Coaster status report (GnomeDesktop)
According to GnomeDesktop, a status report has been published for Coaster, a cd burning utility for GNOME. "One of the last pieces missing in GNOME 2 is a really nice cdburning application. Sure the nautilus-burner is very nice, but it doesn't really tackle the full spectrum of our burning needs ;)".
GNOME Summary for April 19, 2003
Here is the GNOME Summary for March 30 - April 19, 2003. This week's topics include; Desktop docs in more languages; Alleyoop plugs those memleaks; GStreamer 0.6.1 and incoming developments; Bitstream Vera fonts released; Running GNOME on your Laptop; Wrap GObjects in Python; The future of Rhythmbox; Java and GNOME; GNOME in Hindi; Abiword and Evolution closing in on GNOME 2; and much more.Heartbeat 0.1 released (GnomeDesktop)
A project called Heartbeat, a server and service monitoring system for GNOME, has been announced.Unfortunately, this creates a name collision with the other heartbeat, part of the Linux High Availability Project.
KDE-CVS-Digest
The April 18, 2003 edition of the KDE CVS Digest is out. "We can now do bash scripting in KDevelop. KGhostview gets command line switches and some bug fixes. Konqueror tab delay fixed again, Safari fixes to v68 (current is v73) merged. Kicker docking and Kwin crash bugs fixed."
Games
Pygame updates
New Python-based game software on the Pygame site includes: Bubbrothers 1.0 and Sulk .27.
GUI Packages
Glade 2.0.0 Released (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop has announced the release of Glade 2.0.0, a user interface builder. Enhancements and bug fixes are included.
Interoperability
Wine Traffic
Issue #166 of Wine Traffic is out. Topics include: WineX 3.0, TransGaming Updates, Interview with Marcus Meissner, Updated To Do List, Updated Starcraft Patch, Making Windres Similar to WRC, Patch Submission and Acceptance Issues, and What It Would Take To Just Link With -lwine.
Multimedia
GStreamer 0.6.1 released
Version 0.6.1 of GStreamer, a streaming multimedia framework, has been released. "The GStreamer team is proud to announce an updated version in the ABI-stable 0.6.x series, which features many bugfixes and some feature improvements over the previous 0.6.0 release. At this point in time GStreamer is fully functional for creating audio-based applications, as shown by applications such as gnome-sound-recorder, net-rhythmbox, sound-juicer and nautilus-media."
Office Applications
AbiWord Weekly News
Issue #140 of the AbiWord Weekly News is out, with the latest AbiWord word processor development news. "In case you missed the major change to the development series...it's gone to 1.9.0! Martin's continued to work on the future Nautilus View for Abi while the Macintosh port, happy with its progress in Cocoa, has discontinued the Carbon porting. On that note, it would be nice if someone familiar with Cocoa might consider taking up some of its development with the AbiTeam. A usability point comes to light after last week's preview of the Win32 work for the format table dialogue with a counter-visual from GNOME 2. Sinitsyn Valentine continues work on mingw for Win32 users."
AbiWord 1.9.0 released (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop covers the release of AbiWord 1.9.0. "The Abiword team is moving closer to Abiword 2.0 at top speed. In their effort to beat Evolution in a race to be first to complete the GNOME 2 port, they released the 1.9.0 development release today."
SQL Ledger Version 2.0.6 released
A new version of the SQL Ledger accounting package has been released. Changes include support for balance sheet and income statement subtotals, tightened security, updated translations, and more.
Web Browsers
Galeon 1.2.10 and 1.3.4 released! (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop has an announcement for two new releases of Galeon, a minimalist web browser. "1.2.10 is a simple bug fix and api sync update for the 1.2.x branch. Tommi thinks I'm wierd for bothering anymore. :-) 1.3.4 is a pretty big release. We've restored all the cookie/image/password handling capabilities that 1.2.x has".
Mozilla 1.3.1 Release Candidate Builds Available (MozillaZine)
MozillaZine mentions that a new Mozilla build is available. "Asa Dotzler writes in with news that release candidate builds of Mozilla 1.3.1 are now available. The main fix in 1.3.1 is the restoration of XPInstall for Mac OS X but the release will also include a few other bug fixes. Read Asa's message for full details and download links."
Mozilla status update
The April 18. 2003 Mozilla status update has been published. Check it out for the latest Mozilla development news.
Miscellaneous
Chandler 0.1 released
The first release of Chandler (the personal information manager system being developed by Mitch Kapor's Open Source Applications Foundation) is now available. It is an early (v0.1) release, aimed more at letting people look at the code than providing a useful application.Mono Weekly News
The April 17-22, 2003 edition of the Mono Weekly News is out with the latest Mono project development news.
Languages and Tools
C
C/C++ development with the Eclipse Platform (IBM developerWorks)
Pawel Leszek shows how to work with C/C++ on the Eclipse Platform. "Get an overview of how to use the Eclipse Platform in your C/C++ development projects. Though Eclipse is mainly a Java development environment, its architecture ensures support for other programming languages. In this article, you'll learn how to use the C/C++ Development Toolkit (CDT), which is the best C/C++ toolkit available for Eclipse."
Caml
Caml Weekly News
The April 15-22, 2003 edition of the Caml Weekly News is out with current Caml language news.
COBOL
TinyCOBOL documentation updated
New documentation is available for TinyCOBOL. "There's a spanish translation of the introduction to Tiny Cobol by Juanjo and a new FAQ by Ronald."
Java
Cooking with Java XP (O'Reilly)
O'Reilly has published an excerpt from the book "Java Extreme Programming Cookbook". "In this first sample recipe from O'Reilly's Java Extreme Programming Cookbook (from Chapter 5 on "Ant"), you'll learn how to set up an efficient development environment using an Ant buildfile. In the coming weeks, we'll offer sample recipes from the book on Mock Objects, JUnitPerf, and XDoclet, so check back here over the next few weeks to sample the latest recipes."
Java theory and practice: Urban performance legends (IBM developerWorks)
Brian Goetz looks at Java performance issues on IBM's developerWorks. "Unfortunately, many pointers and tips about Java performance tuning are a lot like urban legends -- someone, somewhere, passes on a "tip" that has (or had) some basis in fact, but through its continued retelling, has lost what truth it once contained. This month, Brian Goetz examines some of these urban performance legends and sets the record straight."
Perl
This Week on perl5-porters (use Perl)
The April 14-20, 2003 edition of This Week on perl5-porters is out. "Not a good week to stop smoking ! Test-wise, that is. In this week's summary, read about configuration changes, language proposals, and the usual amount of bug fixes."
This week on Perl 6 (O'Reilly)
The April 13, 2003 edition of This week on Perl 6 has been published. Topics include: Support for true and false properties, PMC elements() inaccessible from the assembler?, Parrot on Win32, Dan's Blog, and Meanwhile over in perl6-language.
PHP
PHP Weekly Summary
Topics on this week's PHP Weekly Summary include: PHP in CVS, Status of 4.3.2 RC 2, building for hosting, get_class() for ZE2, stream filter patch, and broken array pointer.
Python
Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Apr 21)
The April 21, 2003 edition of Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! is available with the usual assortment of Python stories and links.A Primer on Python Metaclass Programming (O'ReillyNet)
David Mertz writes about Python metaclass programming on O'Reilly. "Classes and objects are simple, right? Once you really get it, isn't that all there is? Well, no--there's a whole class of advanced object-oriented techniques to make your code simpler, stronger, and more elegant. This week, David Mertz explains metaclasses--the building blocks of classes. Though the examples are in Python, the ideas translate to many other languages."
Wrap GObjects in Python (IBM developerWorks)
Ross Burton discusses the wrapping of GObjects in Python. "Learning how to wrap GTK+ C modules for use in Python will enable you to use a C-coded GObject in Python whenever you like, whether or not you're especially proficient in C."
Ruby
Ruby Weekly News
The March 21, 2003 edition of the Ruby Weekly News is out. Topics include the latest ruby-dev summary, Ruby's history, and Ruby in a university course.
Scheme
Scheme Weekly News
The April 21, 2003 edition of the Scheme Weekly News is out with the latest Scheme language news.
Tcl/Tk
Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL! - weekly Tcl news and links (Apr 21)
The April 21, 2003 edition of Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL! has been published. Check it out for the latest Tcl/Tk news.Visual Tcl 1.6.0b2 released
Version 1.6.0b2 of Visual Tcl has been released. "This release fixes problems seen with the img package on tck/Tk 8.4.2, hanging vTcl on startup or with broken image links. More simple tutorials have been added, and support for creating and reusing megawidgets enhanced. Easy implementation of modal dialogs can be done with the toplevel alias command."
XML
All That We Can Leave Behind (O'Reilly)
Mark Pilgrim examines what will be dropped in XHTML 2. "Last month I promised an article on the venerable <img> tag, which has been dropped from XHTML 2.0. It was supposed to be a gentle introduction to "stuff we lose in XHTML 2.0, and what we gain in return". However, during the course of researching, I realized that it was turning out to be not so introductory after all. So you'll have to wait another month for that. There are several key elements and attributes that are slated to be dropped from XHTML 2."
Miscellaneous
KDevelop 3.0 (Gideon) Alpha 4 is Out
KDE.News has an announcement for version 3.0 Alpha 4a of KDevelop, a C/C++ IDE for KDE. "The KDevelop team announces the availablility of KDevelop 3.0 Alpha 4a (yes, 4a). In the more than 3 months since the last release, many new features have been added, bugs have been squashed, and existing features have been refined and polished."
Treebeard/Fangorn v0.8rc1 is released
Sourceforge has the announcement for version 0.8rc1 of Treebeard/Fangorn. "Treebeard is an XSLT IDE written in Java; a text editor that allows the loading and editing of an XML document and an XSLT document at the same time. It also can apply the XSLT to the XML and display the output for further editing/saving. Plugable XML and XSLT parsers. The new 0.8rc1 version fixes several bugs from the 0.7 version, it also adds the ability to save your desktop, and has look and feel support."
CUTE 0.1.5 released
SourceForge has an announcement for version 0.1.5 of CUTE, a Qt-based programmer's editor. "With this release, key mapping can now be done with map python function. There is also a dialog for shortcut manipulation. Began to implement ctags support."
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