I have been working with Ubuntu in VirtualBox for a week or two now. At first it was merely an exercise in learning Java, Eclipse and Git but it turns out that with Mono, Linux gets a lot more attractive. More on this later, though! Here are a few notes that I have compiled that would be helpful to those running Ubuntu inside a VirtualBox virtual machine (primarily on a Windows host).

Networking, SSH

If you plan on using Ubuntu as a server of any kind, I suggest using the Bridged network adapter so that the VM looks like a regular PC on the network. Otherwise you will end up fudging with the port forwarding in VBox and inevitably failing (perhaps that is just me). Here is how I set up my Ubuntu VM to enable SSH.

1. With the VM off, open the Networking settings in VBox…
2. Use Bridged Networking, and the AMD PCNet Fast III adapter. See Chapter 06 of the VBox manual for more info.
3. Boot the VM, log on
4. Run sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces. Your file should look like the following. Change your address and gateway IP’s to represent your personal network’s specifics.

   auto lo
   iface lo inet loopback
   address 127.0.0.1
   netmask 255.0.0.0
   
   auto eth0
   iface eth0 inet static
   address 192.168.1.118
   netmask 255.255.255.0
   gateway 192.168.1.1

5. Run sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf to edit your nameservers. Mine has a single entry: the router.
6. Edit your hosts file to add your computer to the IP address. Run sudo nano -w /etc/hosts. I commented out the automatic one and added my own.

   # 10.0.2.15  JSUbuntu-Virtual # Added by Network Manager
   192.168.1.118   JSUbuntu-Virtual

7. Run sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart to apply your changes.
8. Run ifconfig to see your changes.
9. Check that your configuration works by browsing to a site.
10. Now to install SSH, run sudo apt-get install ssh. Note that you may have to run a sudo apt-get update to update the available packages.
11. If you have a firewall enabled, configure port 22 to be open. This is the default SSH port.
12. If you want it to be public, enable port forwarding on your physical/network router for port 22 and your Ubuntu’s IP.
13. On your host machine, download PuTTY
14. Run PuTTY, enter IP, smash the enter key.
15. Enter your credentials!

Next I will show you how to get up and running with git.

Running a Git Server

This portion of this post assumes that you have SSH running, and git installed. It took me a while to find a recent version but eventually found git-core 1.7.2.3 which has been stable. I will update this later with more info (though I will say the git website could do a little better with making the latest release clearly visible for downloading for all systems).

Because git is distributed, it doesn’t have to really rely on some core server software. If you have git installed, you can just create a repository and start committing against it locally or remotely. That is, of course, provided you have access through a protocol such as SSH.

I decided to house my repositories right off the root directory, which is probably stupid but simple to maintain. I did this since Visual SVN server throws its repos into a directory right off of the C drive on Windows. To get a repository, we need to setup a group that will have access to making commits. I chose to create a developers group and added myself to the group.

sudo groupadd developers
sudo usermod -a jsedlak -G developers

Next, I setup a repos directory off the root and give myself and developers read, write and execute access to it. I apologize beforehand if the lack of my command line experience is displayed here.

cd /
sudo mkdir repos
sudo chown jsedlak /repos
sudo chgrp developers repos
sudo chmod 770 repos
cd repos

Once the basic repository bucket is created, we can get started by making a repo to make commits against. First we make the directory, then initialize a git repo inside it and give developers access.

mkdir sample.git
cd sample.git
git init --bare --shared=group
sudo chgrp -R developers .

You should now be able to use this as a repository. But note that we created an empty repo – we should make a commit to get the master branch started. It is a good idea to take this step and use it to test out your new source control server. I hopped on a second machine, made sure I could SSH and then opened a local terminal.

cd ~/Projects
git clone ssh://jsedlak@ubuntuvm.local/repos/sample.git
# Enter password
# Output here...
nano test.txt
git add .
git commit -m Initial
git push origin master

If all went well – you should have a working server! Below is more information including resources I used to create this little post and get my setup running.

References

• Ubuntu Network Configuration Help
• Installing SSH
• How To: Remote Shared Git Repository
• Upgrading Git

As an update to my last post, Using VS Macros to Speed Up Text Entry, here is a block of code that allows you to enter any string as the HTML/XML node name that wraps the current selection. Note that you’ll need to setup the Constants class to hold the shared variable.

Public Class Constants
    Public Shared CustomDefaultValue As String = "p"
End Class

Public Module BasicMacros
    Public Sub WrapInCustom()
        ' Get the input
        Dim str As String = InputBox("Wrap the selection in what?", "Wrap in Custom", Constants.CustomDefaultValue)

        ' Empty string == cancel!
        If (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(str)) Then Return

        ' Store the value so that it is easy to repeat
        Constants.CustomDefaultValue = str

        ' Get the current selection
        Dim ts As TextSelection = CType(DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection, TextSelection)

        ' Add the value
        ts.Text = "<" + str + ">" + ts.Text + ""
    End Sub
End Module

For now, here is a quick snapshot to get you started. The below code allows me to quickly add paragraph tags to the current selection in a VS2010 editor/window. To develop a Macro, simply go into the Tools -> Macros -> Macro IDE and open up the code file.

Public Sub WrapInParagraph()
    DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection.Text = "

" + DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection.Text + "

"
End Sub

After building the project, hop back into VS2010 and select Options under the Tools menu. You can now search for your command in the Environment -> Keyboard panel and assign it a shortcut.

Last week, on 26 August 2010 I left the house on what would turn out to be an awesome ride. At the time, of course, I didn’t really know what pace I was going to keep – I just needed to relieve some stress and energy built up from work. At my first main road I made the turn as a truck was coming my direction and was able to slip into the gigantic draft and go ~38 for roughly one mile. It was awesome to say the least, but I eventually had to make a turn and was forced to back off.

I was feeling more than fresh at this point and decided that I could probably make a decent attempt at my Swamp record, a 3.1 mile section of road in the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge. The road is essentially flat save a few hiccups, but if the wind is wrong then you will be pushing a brick wall through much of the mileage. That day I was fortunate enough to enjoy a complete, dead calm. I knew what I had to do – set a pace of 25 and hold it as long as possible.

The first mile flew by and I thought that I might have been going too easy. Experience took over as I remembered the hiccups and how bad the last half mile can be as the wind changes and starts to hit you straight on. I kept my pace and dug in (Paul might say I was conserving my lead at this point) for the next mile, trying to focus on anything but the cycling. As I hit the right hander the pain started to set in a bit, a slight up hill towards the first intersection and I shoved the throttle down. I was going to break my time… by how much. Previously this year I had set an 8:09, and before that an 8:20. How much lower could I go? Could I break the magical 8 minute mark?

YES! As I smashed the lap button to reveal my time and it sat there in all its glory: 7:29.57 for 3.1 miles!! A new personal record. Progress. There is the evidence that I am getting faster; getting stronger. And if I needed any more proof – the data in TC says it all (relevant area highlighted in yellow).

Of course now only one question remains: how much faster can I go?

Here is a full list of the changes made since 1.0.0.4:

• Added drag and drop sorting.
• Added item pinning (will stay at the top).
• Added settings for turning off (and on) certain data formats.
• Added a “Clear Korkboard” button to clear all non-pinned and unselected items from the list
• Fixed current item selection for when items are selected outside the application
• Fixed text alignment issues in the settings page

I have also changed the download to point to the ClickOnce EXE file instead of the Application file. This should fix any issues with non-IE browsers. Thanks to Long Zheng and MetroTwit for this idea.

Korkboard is a little tool I have been developing that enables a uniform method of storing multiple items on the clipboard. When Korkboard runs, it hooks into the clipboard chain and attempts to intercept messages as you use the Copy and Cut commands. It then stores the items on its own list so that they may be retrieved at a later time. It is important to note that Korkboard does not mess with the functionality of the clipboard. If you copy an item, the clipboard works as expected without any interruption or user required interception. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

• Korkboard v1.1.0.0 (4106)
• Korkboard (Zip) v1.0.0.4 (466)

Korkboard is written in WPF/.NET4 and uses ClickOnce to manage the installation and update processes.

Update: Added the Zip file for those having trouble using the ClickOnce method.

HttpContext.Response.AddHeader("cache-control", "no-cache");

Note that if you have already hit the particular view and it is cached, you can generally clear the cache by navigating to the URI of the view manually and hitting refresh.

[Quality]
FullScreen = 0
ScreenHeight = 960
ScreenWidth = 1280

Now, if only someone could tell me why the game still thinks DoF is on when the options file reads it as being set to zero! Happy settling.

[Display]
BillboardClouds = 1
Clutter = 1
Particles = 1
Sky = 1

[Effects]
Antialiasing = 0
DepthOfField = 1
Fog = 1
Multisampling = 0
Parallax = 1
SSAO = 1
Shadows = 1
SunShafts = 1

[Quality]
AspectMode = 0
ClutterQuality = 2
DistanceCulling = 2
FullScreen = 0
MultiGPU = 0
MultiThreadedGL = 0
ObjectQuality = 2
ScreenHeight = 1050
ScreenWidth = 1680
ShaderQuality = 2
ShadowQuality = 2
TerrainDetailMaps = 1
TextureQuality = 2
Upscaling = 2
WaterQuality = 2

Update: Added full Options file.

The following is a small sample taken from one of my games that handles some simple menu swiping (a full sample is on the way).

If you do happen to use FGF, I would love to hear what you think! Drop me a line via the Contact form or leave a comment here.

private void OnGestureTracked(object sender, GestureArgs args)
{
    // If it wasn't a swipe, we don't care!
    if (args.Gesture != Gesture.Swipe) return;

    // Get the direction of the swipe to determine what way
    // the menus should move
    if (args.Direction.X < 0)
    {
        // If we are capped at the right side of the menus, return
        if (current == menus.Length - 1) return;

        // Transition the menus
        menus[current].Transition(Menu.MoveDir.OffToLeft);

        current++;

        menus[current].Transition(Menu.MoveDir.OnFromRight);
    }
    else
    {
        if (current == 0) return;

        menus[current].Transition(Menu.MoveDir.OffToRight);

        current--;

        menus[current].Transition(Menu.MoveDir.OnFromLeft);
    }
}

 Download FGF 0.1.2.0 Bin

Change Log

• Added gesture recognition
• Added support for Moved state of Tracs
• Changed Collection<T> class to implement interfaces directly rather than inherit from List<T>
• Added angle extensions for Vector2 and Vector3

• XNA MVP List

  This is a compiled list of the XNA MVPs known to be twittering. If you are interested in XNA, you should be following these guys!

• Michael Klucher

  Speaking of Klucher, he is the Lead Program Manager of the XNA Development Platform at Microsoft. Follow him for an interesting view of the daily life of a Microsoftie.

• Paul Thurrott

  Best known for his website, Paul offers a fantastic viewpoint on the industry and is constantly on top of the latest products coming out of Redmond.

• Bill Gates

  Gates is finally twittering! Follow him to stay up to date on his work and travels related to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

• Shawn Hargreaves

  Shawn, famous for his cat based tutorials has one of the best XNA blogs out there. If you are an XNA developer and don’t know him, you’re living under a rock.

• Sgt. Conker

  Keeping up to date on all things XNA can be a daunting task some times. Thankfully Sgt. Conker has got you covered! Follow these guys for the latest news, articles, videos and releases.

• Ska Studios

  Dishwasher. Charlie Murder. GAME WITH ZOMBIES. What else needs to be said? The leader in XNA game development. Follow for news not just about their latest creation but gatos as well.