GenuineJD - Cygwin

Ubuntu 8.10 and Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:06:00 -0500

After finally getting Cygwin installed on my Windows XP Pro SP 2 laptop, I discovered how difficult it can be to get large open-source projects to correctly compile under Cygwin. This was exteremely irritating for obvious reasons.

So I decided to try and install Ubuntu 8.10 under Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. I had previously installed older versions of Ubuntu this way, but was having some trouble getting 8.10 installed. After some searching, I found this wonderful post and comment thread.

The short story is, I had to add vga=791 noreplace-paravirt to the grub command line for the initial boot. Then noreplace-paravirt to /boot/grub/menu.lst after installation and any subsequent updates that modify this file.

Cygwin Setup Finally Working

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:19:00 -0500

I had been trying to get my environment set up to play with Adobe Alchemy, but kept running into problems with my Cygwin setup. After several frustrating hours of installs, re-installs, uninstalls and some out-of-control Perl threads, I think I've got it ready to go.

The problems I was running into were largely due to two things: 1) The path of my home directory containing spaces ("C:\Documents and Settings\...") and 2) my inexperience with Cygwin.

In regards to #1 above, I think this was causing my home directory (/home/username) to not get created properly. That meant additional difficulties in customing my environment by editing my .bashrc file. After the initial learning curve and interpreting the less than specific Adobe Getting Started on Windows instructions for Alchemy, I was able to get the sample library compiled and working correctly.

I did run into a few other problems, but I was able to get through them. I'll be doing a write up for getting started with Alchemy and Cygwin for Windows users with very little Unix experience when I get some more time. Of course, now that I've got Cygwin running, I'm hoping to do try out something more significant than Hello World :)

Adobe Alchemy: Initial Setup Impressions

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:02:00 -0500

My first thoughts on the Alchemy project were of doubt. What would be the benefit of running C/C++ code on the AVM2? It seemed more like a novelty, like running old school NES games on the Wii. The more I started to think about it (and get past my bad memories of Computer Science C/C++ classes in college), the more I started to realize just how powerful this could be. There are so many open source C/C++ libraries for a wide variety of applications that, when paired with Flash, could have an amazing impact on Flash and AIR.

I thought I would tinker with it a bit. Of course, coming to the realization that Alchemy is still limited by the Flash player sandbox was a little disheartening, but I suppose understandable. I found the initial download and setup quite cumbersome. One of my biggest roadblocks was working with Cygwin. I admit, that using Cygwin has its advantages, but configuration thus far has been a beast. Additionally, the getting started section for Windows section left something to be desired in terms of details. I'm the first to admit I'm no UNIX or Linux expert, but I'd like to think I know my way around a bit.

After a few hours of trying to just get my environment set up, something more important required my attention, so I have yet to get the provided examples working. I hope to get back to this more in the next couple of weeks. I've got a few open source C++ libraries I'd love to test out. I'm extremely intrigued, but until I get my environment set up, I'm still skeptical.

Branden Hall has written a good overview of Alchemy.