Free augments software for linux

BuddySpace is an instant messenger with four novel twists: (1) it allows optional maps for geographical & office-plan visualizations in addition to standard buddy lists; (2) it is built on open source Jabber, which makes it interoperable with ICQ, MSN, Yahoo and others; (3) it is implemented in Java, so it is cross-platform; (4) it is built by a UK research lab, so it is 100% free with full sources readiily available. But BuddySpace is about more than just messaging, as we explain below.

One of the key factors that led to the widespread popularity of Instant Messaging applications from 1997 onwards (including ICQ, AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, Odigo, and Jabber messengers) was the concept of pushed presence: the automatic notification of the appearance of friends and colleagues online.

However, Instant Messaging (IM) is just one of many possible presence-related and presence-dependent applications. For example, presence-enabled applications can facilitate safety-tracking of children by mobile phone, support for emergency services, blind-date radar, group teleconference management, multiplayer games, and anything involving the collaboration of individuals separated in space and time.

Why phone a contact only to receive an engaged tone or pre-recorded message, when the telephone network already knows what state your contact is in, and could indicate this directly on your contact list? All of these concepts embody varying degrees of what we refer to as enhanced presence management.

The concept of presence has matured in recent years to move away from the simple notion of online/offline/away, towards a rich blend of attributes that can be used to characterise an individuals physical and/or spatial location, work trajectory, time frame of reference, mental mood, goals, and even intentions! Our challenge is how best to characterise presence, how to make it easy to manage and easy to visualise, and how to remain consistent with the users own expectations, work habits, and existing patterns of Instant Messaging and other communication tool usage.

BuddySpace generalizes the concept of Buddy List (popularised by Instant Messaging tools such as AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger) to provide multiple views of collaborative workgroups according to users needs and tastes. Our aim has been to provide a personal dashboard or radar screen so that one can observe the availability and interaction state of colleagues worldwide in a manner that exhibits the following desirable properties:

* immediate: real-time updates need to be pushed instantly to users rather than pulled in by request -- the push approach helps keep updates more palpable and informative
* peripheral and therefore non-intrusive: users lead busy lives, and dislike being bombarded with yet more information, so we aim to keep awareness of colleagues available in a compact manner that can be noticed peripherally
* customisable: some people prefer simple or hierarchical lists, some prefer visual maps, some prefer status lights, and so on; some prefer a Windows look-and-feel, some a Mac-- we need to cater for diverse user preferences and capabilities
* scaleable: we have to provide ways to indicate the presence of potentially enormous numbers of people, even given that these numbers will be filtered down for personal use -- researchers inhabit workspaces with many hundreds of colleagues around the globe; the Open University has well over 150,000 students online; large peer-spaces like music swapping communities have many millions of users connected simultaneously
* interoperable: with several hundred million users of the Big Four (AIM/ICQ/MSN/Yahoo!), it is crucial that any approach allow interopebility with systems to which our users already subscribe; this is one of the many reasons we built BuddySpace entirely on top of Jabber (www.jabber.org), which provides gateways to the Big Four products.
* cross-platform: we need to service a community not only on Windows, Unix/Linux, and Mac desktop and notebook configurations, but also on PDAs and mobile phones -- we therefore develop entirely in Java
* XML-literate: for future intelligent applications, communication transport needs to be about more than just string-transmission; another we adopted Jabber is that it is based entirely on a generic XML transport architecture, ideally suited for this purpose.
* open source: for the research community to join us and to gain leverage via our research output, we have ensured that BuddySpace is open source, available on SourceForge.
* clean: BuddySpace adheres rigorously to the Jabber specification, which means that it interoperates with other Jabber clients and servers without danger of the rogue behaviour that non-standard implementations inadvertently allow (e.g. the semantics of users inhabiting multiple groups is undefined in some clients, and can cause crashes).
* extendable: BuddySpace deploys a plug-in architecture which means that additions, such as new visualizations, and new concepts such as gaming interfaces, are readily achievable

BuddySpace fulfills all the above criteria, and provides a compelling user interface that can be highly compact, yet provide users with an important feel-good factor, akin to seeing nearby office lights turned on when entering ones office building at night. By studying the semantics of presence, we can also augment the existing impoverished presence states in a principles manner, providing capabilities that are more representative of the way real users work. Forthcoming capabilities will include automatic location updates via mobile devices, and the use of semantic matchmaking via intelligent profile handling, in order to help users quickly find and filter colleagues of particular interest.

Automated support for compound RPC calls is a project which augments RPCGEN to support NFSv4-style compound procedures.

NFSv4 specifies that the RPC calls be batched into a "compound" call. There is no support for this in RPCGEN.

By rearranging the ONC IDL for NFSv4 into AutoGen definitions, these templates will emit the original IDL *plus* all the code to package, send, distribute, collect, return, and dispatch the results.

The distributed program author merely needs to call and supply server procedures for the routines specified in the IDL.

Templates for these calls and service routines is provided, too. The NFSv4 definitions are included.

Jolt is a Java Virtual Machine Daemon. This program provides a means to invoke the JDK tools javac, javadoc, and jar from the command line while reusing the same JVM instance across invocations.

Jolt daemon is intended primarily for use as a helper tool to make compilation of Java code with make as fast as (and potentially faster than) with Jakarta Ant.

It can also be used to run arbitrary Java programs (as with java); this is particularly useful for command-line utilities that are run over and over, where the cost of launching the JVM each time would be prohibitive (or at the very least, annoying).

Usage:

The `runjolt shell script can be used as a wrapper for the `jolt binary. It checks for the presence of the JAVA_HOME environment variable (which should be set to the top-level installation directory of JDK 1.4.0 or later) and augments LD_LIBRARY_PATH accordingly before invoking `jolt proper.

Perl6::Classes project contains first class classes in Perl 5.

SYNOPSIS

use Perl6::Classes;

class Composer {
submethod BUILD { print "Giving birth to a new composern" }
method compose { print "Writing some music...n" }
}

class ClassicalComposer is Composer {
method compose { print "Writing some muzak...n" }
}

class ModernComposer is Composer {
submethod BUILD($) { $.length = shift }
method compose() { print((map { int rand 10 } 1..$.length), "n") }
has $.length;
}

my $beethoven = new ClassicalComposer;
my $barber = new ModernComposer 4;
my $mahler = ModernComposer->new(400);

$beethoven->compose; # Writing some muzak...
$barber->compose # 7214
compose $mahler; # 89275869347968374698756....

Perl6::Classes allows the creation of (somewhat) Perl 6-style classes in Perl 5. The following features are currently supported:

subs, methods, and submethods
And their respective scoping rules.

Attributes
Which are available through the has keyword, and look like $.this.

Inheritance
Both single and multiple inheritance are available through the is keyword.

Signatures
Signatures on methods, subs, and submethods are supported, but just the Perl 5 kind.

Data hiding
Using the public, protected, and private traits, you can enforce (run-time) data hiding. This is not supported on attributes, which are always private.

Anonymous classes
That respect closures. You can now nest them inside methods of other classes, even other anonymous ones!

The Perl6::Classes module augments Perls syntax with a new declarator: class. It offers the advantage over Perls standard OO mechanism that it is conceptually easier to see (especially for those from a C++/Java background). It offers the disadvantage, of course, of being less versatile.

Neuro-Evolving Robotic Operatives project, or NERO for short, is a unique computer game that lets you play with adapting intelligent agents hands-on. Evolve your own robot army by tuning their artificial brains for challenging tasks, then pit them against your friends teams in online competitions!

NERO is an active research project run almost entirely by students. It uses the real-time NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (rtNEAT) algorithm created by Ken Stanley during his PhD work at UT Austin. The NERO project is a collaboration of the Department of Computer Sciences and the Digital Media Collaboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

Softpedia Linux RSS is a theme for SuperKaramba for viewing latest Linux Softpedia downloads.
SuperKaramba is, in simple terms, a tool that allows you to easily create interactive eye-candy on your KDE desktop.
SuperKaramba is a tool that allows anyone to easily create and run little interactive widgets on a KDE desktop. Widgets are defined in a simple text file and can be augmented with Python code to make them interactive. Current widgets include everything from simple news headline displays to complete custom replacements for kicker, the KDE toolbar.
Main features:
- Open URL in new tab
- Shadow fonts
- Transparent background

QOLSR is a QoS extension introduced to the OLSR protocol. Almost no additional control traffic is generated (only augmented HELLO and TC messages).
Like in standard OLSR, link state information is generated only by nodes selected as MPRs. This information is then used for route calculation. QOLSR requires only partial link state to be flooded in order to provide optimal paths in terms of application requirements.
QOLSR does not require any changes to the format of IP packets, thus any existing IP stack can be used and the protocol only interacts with kernel routing table management.
First IETF manet drafts have been submitted as experiments and research go on.
Enhancements:
- Minor bugfixes