Genesis

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I've opened my first personal blog. Hope I'll find the time to update it regularly. :-)

Popular posts from this blog

GetDIBits vs. Scanline vs. Pixels[] in Delphi Bitmaps

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I've been always wanting to sit down one day and solve this problem; test the speed of manipulating pixels on a Bitmap using the three options: - the convenient but understandably slow Pixels[], - the "interesting" Scanline property and - the Windows API GetDIBits and SetDIBits. I have been traditionally using Pixels for quick work and the Get/SetDIBits for low-level pixel manipulation such as the filters used in ToolBox . Never really used the Scanline property in anger, I was always thinking, DIBits "had" to be quicker. Little I knew... I have been experimenting with two tools that I've written and never released to the public domain. The first is the BMPCreator which I wrote in order to create 256-level grayscale bitmaps, the other is the IconCreator which uses a grayscale bitmap and applies color maps to it, giving you the ability to create different colored versions of the same icon (like in my database visualization tool VirtualTreeNavigator ). Yesterd
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Installation of Mint 17.1 Cinnamon on VMWare

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It's been 2.5 years since I posted an installation guide of installing Ubuntu 12.10 on VMWare Workstation but the release of Linux Mint 17.1 has prompted me to write an updated guide. This is the third of my guides, acting mostly as a memo for a quick install of new distros on VMWare, my first one written in 2009 ( Linux on VMWare with later additions of other posts full of little hints and reminders (e.g. fonts, keymaps)). Ingredients Please note that these instructions work for most distros, although this post focuses on Mint 17.1 A downloaded ISO image of your favourite distro ( Mint , Mint LMDE , Ubuntu , Debian ) A newly created virtual machine with 2-8GB of RAM, a 40-60GB disk and a couple of CPU cores. Installation Mount the ISO image to your VM's optical drive and boot it up, then follow the instructions to install your distro selecting your preferences (timezone, keyboard layout, etc.). For accessing your VM via ssh from your host, it helps if your Lin
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Now and Then

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Go back twenty years, let's say 1994. You've got a new computer, you get your stashes of CDR disks and floppies, and start installing software. One after the other, OS first for some of us, a bit of config, then utilities, some word processor, some painting package. A compiler, an editor. You'll run them all at least once, reboot multiple times, etc. Now, go back ten years, 2004. You've got a new laptop. You install OS, create user account, setup language, regional settings. You "plug the internet" in, download software, install, configure and so on. Most of your software still comes from CDs or DVDs maybe, installation, serial numbers, you know the drill. Today, 2014. You've got a new tablet. You boot it up, log in to the WiFi. Go to app store, login. Start downloading your already purchased apps, run, log in, Chrome, GMail, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Flipboard. Every app needs a password, every app needs preferences, notification co
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