chris.stout

I personally really like using [ Kate (K Advanced Text Editor).](http://www.kde.org/applications/utilities/kate/) It's got built in highlighting for a number of languages.

This is very well written. Thanks for posting it. My feeling on this matter is that I would never want a 'tablet' interface for my desktop. I know people say the desktop is dying, but I don't personally plan on abandoning mine in the foreseeable future. I have no problem …

This script will tell you if a user account exists on the system, just pass the user name you want to check as an argument to the script like `user_exists.sh foo` #!/bin/bash cat /etc/passwd | grep ^$1 >/dev/null if [ $? == 0 ]; then echo "User $1 exists." exit …

Back in 2009-ish, it was MS policy to actually help people when they called with activations. Granted, MS policy means approximately sod-all to their average CSR. (I won't actually admit to having worked MS customer disservice) I'd recommend calling the activation department directly. Here's [instructions](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950929) on how to find the …

I've never used commands.getstatusoutput. But wouldn't triple quotes around the variable allow you to not escape the quotes inside it?

I really like Zed Shaw's [Learn Python the Hard Way](http://learnpythonthehardway.org/) and Allen Downey's [Think Python](http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/). The authors of both have made them freely available to read online.

> I feel like the oldest person here. Isn't there anyone else who used paper tape or punch cards? I'm quite jealous. I'd love to get my hands on a punch card and/or paper tape machine; there's probably something very wrong with me. My first language was Q-Basic (early 90s).

> Have you seen those commercials about quitting smoking? those commercials are quite inspiring and very well thought out, I just wish they came sooner. As a smoker, I find myself lighting up whenever I see one of those commercials.

What kind of errors do you get when the game crashes? I ran the game quite a few times and only got it to crash once. When it crashed for me it gave me an error that time.sleep() on line 159 had been passed an invalid argument. As for improving …

If you get rid of lines 14 - 19 you can print the input file as one line with: print ''.join(list).replace("\n", " ")

If you're using BASH, Linux Config's [Bash Tutorial](http://linuxconfig.org/Bash_scripting_Tutorial) is quite helpful. TLDP also has some great [guides](http://www.tldp.org/guides.html) on BASH.

[Same Game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SameGame) is a rather easy game to make. While it's not graphic free, you can make it with very simple graphics like squares of color. The [Hitchhiker's Guide game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_%28video_game%29) was one of my favorite text-based games.

I personally wouldn't touch ASP.Net with a ten foot pole. I have no need for proprietary languages. I really enjoy Python. You can use Python for CGI scripts. A really solid resource for learning it is [Learn Python the Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw](http://learnpythonthehardway.org/).

When I played around with 8 (briefly) there was a single registry key that you could change to disable metro and use a more Win7 looking desktop. I think the below article was the key that worked. I don't know if this is still possible in the final version of …

As far as books go, I really like the ActionScript 3 Bible. It's a really handy reference to have hanging around. I'd also suggest reading [Adobe's AS3 documentation.](http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/index.html) As far as tutorials and blogs go, I have found [Bit-101](http://www.bit-101.com) to have some good info, [Emanuele Feronato](http://www.emanueleferonato.com/) has loads of tutorials, …

If my understanding is correct, which it may not be due to the complexity of American law, it has been illegal for quite some time. The DCMA prohibits circumventing DRM/Encryption. There are just certain things the government has said they wouldn't pursue charges on. My personal view is that if …

It looks like [Page Flip-Flap](http://www.pageflip-flap.com/) does the same thing and is free.

I can solve the riddle with zero races, and it turns out to be quite simple. Shoot six of the horses. The remaining three horses are the fastest three, assuming that the riddle doesn't include any form of equestrian zombieism outbreaks.

It's not a movie, but I really like Code Monkeys. For anyone that's not seen it, it's a cartoon about game programmers. It's drawn to look like an old school video game.

I prefer Linux. For me it's really all about the freedom that comes with using free (libre) software; though free (gratis) is a huge plus. I like having unfettered access to tinker with, and sometimes break, the software I'm using.

My guess would be: I 9 P **14** 5 L 14 **U** The reason I'd guess that is that I is the 9th letter of the alphabet and P is the 14th. On the second if L is the 5th letter, U would be the fourteenth. L:5, M:6, N:7, O:8 …

I smoke because I heard it makes your code run 10% faster. It also makes any GUI you design look cooler. Though I'm pretty uptight about not smoking near computers. The tar can really gum up a computer.

That looks like a pretty solid intro to Python from what I read. I wish Blender's site allowed you to download the whole book at once, if it does I can't seem to find it. I'll definitely be adding this to my list of Python resources.

\*\*\* Side note: Before reinstalling Windows, back up any data you have as reinstalling will erase it. I mention this because I have seen countless people reinstall without backing up only to realize all their carefully collected pictures of lol cats are lost forever. \*\*\* Did Windows come pre-installed on …

I'm quite fond of Python. It's dead simple to learn; it's very easy to call normal commands as well.

On my motherboard, I have to change a USB setting in the bios to get my keyboard to work with Grub. What motherboard do you have? Perhaps there is a similar setting on yours. Am I correct in assuming that you used the [Wubi](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wubi) installer to install Ubuntu? If so, …

You said it doesn't work. What output do you get when you try "rm -rf .local/share/Trash/*" ? Yes, the trash does take up space on your system, at least it does on mine.

[Iron Python](http://ironpython.net/) is Python for .Net. I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for. I don't know any C# (or any other variant of C for that matter.) This has me intrigued, so I might take a stab at writing it in C# if I have time later today. …

I'm not terribly familiar with what tools exist on Windows for this. However, you can use VLC to convert video files. Here's a [article showing the basic process.](http://tom.zickel.org/vlcmp4/)

Using Chromium 14.something on Fedora, it runs just fine. That being said, I think the game would benefit from some design changes. The controls weren't very intuitive. Having to push space to get past the first screen, then 1 to start is annoying. I would change it so that space …

I could be wrong, but I don't think any file systems on Linux store the creation date. Though you could check for the modify/change date with the command stat. This code seems to work for me. But the user has to specify the date the same as stat, (yyy-mm-dd). #!/bin/bash …

Cut might be what you're looking for. Below will give you the text between the 2nd and 3rd "/". cut -d "/" -f3

It could be an easy fix. Though some additional information would be needed. What pattern are the beeps (ie two long beeps, two short beeps)?

If you're using Linux/Unix you could use sed. The command to change "cmptr" to "computer" would be: sed 's/cmptr/computer/g' I'd suggest using a loop to go through all the words you want to check for. [Linux Config's Bash Tutorial](http://linuxconfig.org/Bash_scripting_Tutorial) should cover everything you need to know to set up arrays …

Resize2fs is a utility to resize file systems. From the terminal, run "man resize2fs". It will tell your more about what it is and how to use it. Alternatively, you can read [the man pages here.](http://linux.die.net/man/8/resize2fs)

I personally would go with computer science for a few reasons. Firstly, I'd rather code than design. I think a computer science degree would still allow you to get a job involving video games while not limiting you to only video games. Also, I've had some friends and aquaintences that …

Effbot.org has [this article on compiling Python code](http://effbot.org/zone/python-compile.htm) that may be of some use to you. Though the .pyc file will still need python to run. When you try to open the pyc file with vim it isn't very readable. [PY2Exe](http://www.py2exe.org/) will package python scripts as a Windows Exe that …

You can get the Realtek driver [here.](http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=9&PFid=9&Level=6&Conn=5&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8192E) They have two drivers for it at the bottom, an XP/Vista driver and a Win7 driver. If one doesn't work the other might. I'm assuming you'll want to try the win7 driver first. Unzip the file after you download it. That can be …

I'd personally look at the levels of resource usage while running the application. I'd then set the minimum requirements as the average level of resources used while running. I'd set the recommended requirements as the highest value I see in testing.

I'd highly recommend [PySchools](http://www.pyschools.com/) .

I think find might work in this instance. find -name "\*.h" -exec CppCheckStyle {} \; -o -name "\*.cpp" -exec CppCheckStyle {} \;

If you can use your keyboard in the BIOS then the mobo shouldn't be fried. What USB/PS2/Keyboard options do you have in your BIOS? For instance on my mobo I have to enable legacy USB support for the OS to recognize my keyboard.

According to [Cyberciti](http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/vi-show-line-numbers/), you can show line numbers with the command :set nu.

I highly suggest [this tutorial](http://linuxconfig.org/Bash_scripting_Tutorial) for helpful info when you're new to shell scripting.

This seems to work for me: #!/bin/bash find . -name "*&*" | while read file do newName=`echo $file | sed 's/\&/and/g'` mv "$file" "$newName" done