Raspberry Pi Week : Start learning Python with this free tutorial.
May 20“There is an app for that ! “. How many times have you heard that phrase, probably uttered by some smartphone waving geek who instantly shows you how to fix problem Xyz in your life using a pre-packaged app. And there is nothing wrong with that.. as long as there IS an app. But what if there is not ? What if you spend hours online looking for an app that doesn’t exist or doesn’t quite do what you want it to do ? Wouldn’t your wish to be able to TELL your computer exactly what to do ? Well there is ! It’s called programming. Don’t worry if it sounds weird but before the time of beard-sporting iphone hipsters with 5997 apps on their smartphones we used to PROGRAM our machines to work for us.
A great way to start to learn how to program is by using a raspberry pi. The inexpensive mini computer is a great place to start when you want to learn how to program. The Pi is geared heavily towards the Python language and offers great tools which you can use when you want to learn how to code (or teach your kid on how to code). But where do you start ?
The Full Circle magazine has been running a series on “how to program in python” for quite some time. They have collected all these articles into 3 PDF Issues of their magazine that you can download for free. Its a great way to start your first baby steps into Python scripting and discovering you don’t always need an “app for that”. Even with a few basic programming skills you can upstage those app-jockeys by saying ” I WROTE a script for that !”. So download the tutorial, grow a beard, put on sandals and start screaming profanities towards closed source software, because you’re on your way to becoming a Python Programmer !
Links :
Related Posts
From dapper to edgy in a snap.
Nov 02When a new linux distribution hits the scene its always a little bit like Christmas. As the beta releases taunt you like packages beneath the tree, tempting you to try them out .. The hard part is sitting on your hands untill the website screams FINAL and the fun can begin. Thus here is my little christmas carol about how I updated my good old Ubuntu Linux 6.06 version to the latest in 6.10.
No beta's please.
Every new release of a linux distribution (in this case the new Ubuntu) puts the blender in the rumor pot. What is new , what is going to change, this and that cool stuff is going to be new, are they gonna drop this and that. The only way to divide fact from fiction is downloading and installing the public beta versions that are released. Now I have never been one for beta's. And that is for two reasons. First of all because a beta never gives you a clear picture of what is going to be the final product. Sure, you might get a glimpse in the general direction, but the difference between the beta and the final release may be as dramatic as the difference between cookie dough and the finished brownie. Secondly : Beta's are mostly far from stable. Unless you are a developer or some genius programmer who can find and fix bugs in this PRE-released version of a final distro, its not gonna do you much good. Forget using a public beta as a stable system. You are riding an unfinished car to the finish line. If you are masochistic and love to hog unpredictable kernels I would suggest turning to any version of Windows before its service pack one.
Thus I bide my time till the final comes. And when my curiosity gets the best of my I'll just download the fucker and run it in a virtual machine.
Why should we care to upgrade ?
Erm.. Good question. In the case of Ubuntu 6.06 it was out of sheer curiosity.
I (finally) got my current version to play nice with my home network, had it all eye-candied out so it looked smooth and more importantly, gotten used to the look-feel and possibilities of this worthy windows-replacing operating system. Since it was a "decimal" upgrade (from 6.06 to 6.1) there was no rush. (When however they moved from 5. to 6. I was all over the place with joy). The other thing is, Linux distributions evolve differently from windows distributions. In mickey-software they whack in all the cool toys and worry about security POST RELEASE. In Ubuntu they make sure the system is steam liner-stable and "Fort Knox secure" before they release it. All the "fancy smancies" are developed later by the community. So a Ubuntu distro can be considered "ripe for use" about two weeks after release when the command-line-geeks have had enough of caffeine driven all nighters and coded the crap out of themselves to prep the add-ons.
But upgrade we shall ! (reinstall / upgrade)
Now, If I had absolutely nothing to do with my life, and installed/reinstalled my system every time there was a kernel fart, a re-installation was something to consider. Wiping ones hard drive clean and installing an OS from scratch is like wearing clean underwear or sleeping in fresh sheets. But since I had my 6.06 running so smoothly the thought of upgrading crossed my mind. With windows I would never EVER Consider this , and even on my mac i like it better when i can erase/reinstall rather then upgrade. But I decided it was time to test the agility and maturity of Linux by going for the upgrade.. (and just maybe I'm a lazy fuck who did not want to wipe his porn ?) If you have the time go for a clean reinstall , If you don't want to wipe a working system, try the upgrade. You can always reinstall when it goes wrong.
Upgrading a working system.
I could tattoo the following advice into peoples forehead yet they would not listen to me until one day .. they loose everything. " BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP" what ever you do to a working system, make sure you backup everything before you begin. Don''t even try to come over and wine about all the crap you lost. I'll laugh in your face , step on your toe and write "I TOLD YOU SO' on your belly with pink lipstick. Afterwards you can run around naked in shame for all I care. I have no compassion for persistent stupidity. Next up : Be prepared for failure. Don't try elaborate shit like this if you need to get a paper out by next morning. Be prepared for total system fucky-uppie and start working on emergency response scenario's should your "kernel based acrobatics" fail.
The magic command line code
So lets get started. We have " one cup of Ubuntu 6.06, with the important data and settings skimmed' Next up I found this great website that teaches you how to upgrade using just one line of code. Just pop open your command line window and type :
gksu "update-manager -c"
Next up enter your administrator password. The message will come up a new update is available and you need to click the 'update" button to do so. So what should you do ? … Hit it you twit !. The upgrade process will take quite some time so be prepared to actually spend time with your family and do what "normal' people do. Don't bite your nails awaiting the completion of this process.. Why ? cause its not nice !
After about an hour the whole thing will be done, Reboot your system and say a prayer to "Sint Rita" who is the holy chaperone for lost causes. If Rita can't help you .. you are officially screwed.
The magic word : Automatix !
If all went well you'll have a completely upgraded system. Otherwise enjoy your horrible " KERNEL PANIC" message heralding the end of your operating system as you have know it thus far. But you backed up all important data anyway .. didn't you .. So now the trick is to make this fancy new version of Ubuntu into a working operating system. This means, being able to play *wmv files, play dvd's, be able to run Google earth and what have you . In short : All the good stuff. To do this there is the magical script of AUTOMATIX that will help you accomplish what takes geeks months, in mere minutes.
If you had automatix installed on your old 6.06 system , lets remove it first shall we ? : Open a command line an type :
sudo apt-get remove automatix
enter your admin password and be gone with the old automatix.
Then we prepare to install AUTOMATIX2. So in our command line window we type : sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
this will let you add the following line to the end your sources list ( where your linux gets his good stuff)
deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt edgy main If you see any simular lines with a # in front of them, remove the # and save the file.
Now we enter some geeky lines in order to make automatix work. (hit ENTER after every line)
wget http://www.getautomatix.com/apt/key.gpg.asc
gpg –import key.gpg.asc
gpg –export –armor 521A9C7C | sudo apt-key add –
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install automatix2
If all went well you will now have a little AUTOMATIX icon in your
gnome menu ( APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM TOOLS / AUTOMATIX
And then some.
Now the good stuff can start. As you see , in automatix you can choose what good stuff to install , if I where you I would check every little tickbox and then get some more quality time with the family. The installation of programs like , skype , google earth , picasa and more might take some time. But when you are done all the stuff works fine and you are the proud owner of a fully working Ubuntu 6.10. Have fun.
Sources :
Related Posts
Thank you Codemonkey Rob !
Jun 03
He is strange but he is ours ! "C0d3M°nKY3 – "Co-W@X" – R08 "
Some say he only dreams in Binary, Some say he sleeps between cascading style sheets and has Serial modems for breakfast. Some even say he has a keyboard where we have a head. The only thing we know is : We call him Codemonkey Rob. Yep. Its time to pay hail and tribute for the man behind the scene, the cobol behind the code, the wizard behind the curtain : Codemonkey Rob.
All the cool stuff you see before you , the interactive stuff, the smoothly styled stuff, the nicely trim-lined tables, the evenly spaced out characters and not forgetting the rock solid 9500 hits – a – day – withstanding without even flinching bad – ass open source content management technology … its all this dudes work.
Now we might be technocrats, cyber-citizens. We might dance on the pinnacle of the next big thing in technology and take our legendary writing skills to praise the gospel to the masses.. Whenever we are in need , this dude is there. Where our flamboyant literary skills fall short .. where our graphical delusions of what the site should look like far overstep the bounds of our graphical coding abilities. Where the demand we place on the content of the website leans closer towards alchemy then towards computer science. And every single time we come running , our fingers covered in the sticky paste of yet another big web-based-frack-up, screaming his name .. ROB ! I made a Booboo .. THAT is when he is there.
The man behind the Magic.
He looks at us , as Merlin must have looked at King Arthur's stable boys with a look of utter supremacy. His mind purring gently as he is recalculating the letter PI up to the 365th digit, without a calculator and just for fun. As we pour out the very root directory of our heart to him and beg the Almighty Rob for yet another miracle, the only thing he does is smile. His eyes take on this gleam.. this gaze .. If you look real close you see the naked php code dancing behind them. For what feels like an eternity but is only a nanosecond .. he hesitates. … “ No problem “ he then proclaims matter-of-factly .. “will be right done. Peace a cake” And shortly afterwards the miracle is done. With a speed an accuracy that puts Gods little seven-day science project to shame , Codemonkey Rob conjures up another impossibility. So let me take a minute to sacrifice a symbolical hard drive in his honor and say on Behalf of everyone at Knightwise.com : Thank you Code-monkey rob !
