Better late than never

Well, here's a couple of the OSDW pics that I promised. First pic is a whiteboard with some kde4 brainstorming. Talk about impromptu! This is one of the reasons I really wanted to go. Face to face idea bouncing. I wish this could happen more often.


Second pic shows some of the kde hackers that were able to attend. The two on the left I don't remember, but I think one of them is Adam (manyoso). In the middle is Ian Geiser. Then right of him is Matt and then Wade. Big thanks again to Wade for transporting some of us around in his pimped convertible rental.

OSDW OMG

Wow what an experience this has been so far. Interesting talks, brainstorming and the obligatory brewery visitation. Matt's flight was overbooked, but he still made it the next morning. Linspire's support and appreciation has been no less than awesome!

I had a discussion with one of the Linspire programmers about a network manager program he wrote in python that manages interfaces on your laptop, switching them based on interaction and events from DBUS. Not only does it handle things nicely, but it also sit in the system tray and apparently has a kcontrol module. I thought this was very interesting considering that it was written in python and with all the recent discussion on the different network monitoring apps recently on the kde-devel list. Why can't we get all these guys together to make one "kick ass" network management application that handles wifi, wep, wpa, etc. I can dream can't I?

Also, with some interest about networked virtual folders and things of that nature that sit on your desktop and are interacted by others across the network in plasma, I started writing a proof of concept SK theme that uses network programming modeling game design ideas(i.e.udp client/server). This proof of concept will emulate Pong, although I'll have to implement the collision code somehow and then I'll release it upon kdelook.

Pictures will be posted on the next entry of some of the happenings that I've been able to attend.

T minus 2 days

2 days until I'm off to San Diego for OSDW. It should be a great time. Although we don't have aKademy here in the USA, this is going to be the next best thing. I can't wait to meet up with other kde hackers and learn some more "tricks of the trade". IRC can only get you so far. Real time communication face-to-face is always more productive.

SK has been getting chopped up a bit lately. In fact most things don't work right now. We're implementing a true xml format for the theme files currently. This should make things a bit easier to work with in the grand scheme of things. Maybe also pave the way for a theme editor utility should someone be so inclined to do so. ;)

I've also been thinking about window decorations again, but have been a bit too busy to get started. I have a few ideas I'd like to expand upon from the Smooth Blend deco I wrote. It requires me learning how to use graphics programs such as inkscape however. This may prove to be my achilles heal. Only time will tell, but be on the lookout.

KDE/GNOME/Pictures/Beer

Ohio LinuxFest has come and gone. Late nights of beer and software discussions over. I was lucky enough to make some new friends that just happen to be involved with the Gnome Foundation and are also located in the Columbus area, Sean Harshbarger and Aaron Bedra. Not to mention getting to know Ryan Quinn of Symphony OS. Although he and I talked a bit, the bar was so loud that I only caught some of the conversation.

I was able to get into a few pictures throughout the day and the evening. The first batch of pictures are mentioned on the Ohio LinuxFest site and are posted here. There are more pictures that were taken of everyone having a good time, but I don't have any way to locate them. Maybe they'll either show up on the planet.kde.org or planet.gnome.org sites? Be on the lookout!
(btw, if you took pictures, please drop me a line or email me)