Hello people,

yes, you can shiver at the title: we have (are still, actually) done a new package management frontend. Why? Because KDE missed a great one. Maybe some of you using Arch Linux will recognize the name Shaman: it is the default package manager frontend in Chakra, and my very first project with Qt. As such, it has grown quite old, and it’s showing the limits of my early programming skills, which made it almost unmaintainable by now. So me and Lukas (boom1992) decided to take it on a whirl and rewriting it from the ground up, with a more ambitious goal. We had some clear goals in mind:

• It should have been extensible to any package management system and integrated with it
• It should remain simple, and be extendable to the sky throughout plugins
• It should be completely asynchronous to bring the user the best possible experience
• It should be scriptable, to lower the barrier of the contributors and open up more possibilities to backends not in the C realm

There is one platform which actually makes this all possible, and it’s KDE So we created Shaman 2. What is it?

Chapter 1: Shaman for Developers

Before being a package manager, it is a library. Think about it as the Solid or the Phonon of package management. This library provides an easy to use interface to implement frontends, and an abstraction layer for building plugins and backends. A backend is an interface to a package management system, such as apt, yum, packagekit, alpm, whatever. It is implemented as a static plugin that will be chosen upon build. People who need to implement a backend have to reimplement Shaman::BackendInterface and Shaman::Package, and make it work. It’s really easy to do: the current packagekit backend weights ~900 lines of code (and a lot of them are made of strings) and it’s almost feature complete.

Also, in the spirit of giving the backend developers the maximum flexibility, not forcing them into workarounds and getting the best possible performance/user experience ratio, you can implement delayed loading, custom caching of the information, custom progress reporting (soon), custom searching implementations and more. Shaman comes already preloaded with “Insane rockstar settings” (cit.), a backend for PackageKit and one for Aqpm (pacman), but we are looking forward to people who would like to port Shaman 100% natively on platforms not fully supported by PackageKit. For example, Shaman will support soon streaming transaction questions with custom widgets and creating scripted backends. Did you see any references to apt and/or debconf here? I did not.

At the moment all the code in Shaman runs unprivileged: in the near future, though, it will be given the possibility to create a backend with root privileges just by giving a switch to Shaman at compile time. Thanks to some PolicyKit+DBus magic, the backend (and only the backend) will be run privileged and will require authorization to perform any actions. You still have the option of running Shaman as root, but these days it’s really nonsense. You can also simply bypass such a possiblity and implement this straight into the backend (as Aqpm and PackageKit do), but this boils down to be your choice.

What is extremely cool about Shaman, though, is its plugin system. Almost any functionality can be implemented through plugin, from the GUI or the core side. In fact, the 2 main widgets of the Shaman interface are plugins as well. Plugins have a very important role in Shaman, and can also play an active part in transactions. Every plugin, in fact, can register some “Hook”, that can be run after and/or before a transaction. Pre transaction hooks have also the power of reporting fatal errors and aborting the upcoming transaction before it even starts. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of room for making Shaman fully integrated with the underlying distribution and perform some annoying tasks not belonging to the package management system. For example, what about a plugin that after a transaction checks if the kernel was upgraded, and in case rebuilds the VirtualBox kernel module?

Scripting support, as I told you, is a priority. Even if it’s not working right now due to constant changes in the API, it will be made ready as soon as we reach a semi-stable API, and it will use Kross. The basics are already there and ready, so it’s just a matter of time. Help welcome on this side, especially from some Kross masters around

The API is still unstable but it’s stabilizing as I write this. You know where to reach me, if you’re interested, we can have a chat and you can bug me with some questions I look forward to plugin and backend developers

Chapter 2: Shaman for users

Anyway, what about the user interface? The user interface is meant to be non-modal when and where possible, simple & easy to use yet detailed, still remaining beautiful. How does it look like as of today? (Some screenshot here on Arch, some on Fedora, using Aqpm and PackageKit)

P.S.: The interface is changing by the minute and the default dialog sizes are much smaller than shown. Hey, this is a preview footage after all

You might or might not have noticed some small differences in the PackageKit and Aqpm UI. This is because Shaman adapts its UI depending on the capabilities of the backend. So you will never be shown something your backend does not know about. Well, unless the backend developer is cheating, of course

Shaman implements also some neat stuff: for example, your queue is retained on exit. This means that if you mark some packages to be processed, then your girlfriend calls you and you realize being already 30 minutes late for your date, just don’t worry: close Shaman and turn off your PC: the next time you will start Shaman, it will automagically restore the last queue, which will be ready to be processed. There is also a transaction logger ready for you, so that you won’t lose any bit of history.

There is also security: Shaman is meant to be run as a standard user, using technologies such as PolicyKit and KAuth for granting authorizations for privileged actions.

And it installs, removes and upgrades your packages too!

Near future development

Shaman as the frontend is only the first product in our quest to provide a fully integrated and KDE branded experience for package management. Those of you who used/tried Chakra might have run into, and hopefully loved, Chase, the automatic update system. Chase will be improved and ported over to libshaman (not a lot of work actually), to provide automatic updates in a fully integrated way. And there is also some stuff boiling in our minds to bring to Plasma some of the package management: we are planning on a Plasmoid which will serve as a global visualizator for transactions done through libshaman, and will also provide some very basic package management functions. All the three tools (Automatic updates, plasma widget/engine, Shaman) will be tightly integrated and cooperating, instead of conflicting (just as it happens with Shaman 1 and Chase in Chakra right now), to provide users an easy and integrated way of managing their software.

That’s all, folks

And I sincerely hope I raised some interest I am actually looking forward to distribution developers to get excited and use Shaman in their own distros. Up to now I have a VM for Fedora and Debian where Shaman runs great using the PackageKit backend.

The most important thing, is that Shaman is still not ready to be used. But for the brave souls and curious developers, playground/sysadmin/shaman is the place to be

Here is a very old commercial (from the 80s!) for 7-Up, featuring both a Pacman arcade game and Kim Carnes’ hit “Bette Davis Eyes.”

Late last night I was looking through Mod Cloth and found so many wonderful things so I need to put them all in a post so that they are no longer hundreds of open tabs on my browser! So here they are:

1. Hello Kitty Cutie Wallet – cutest wallet ever!, although knowing me it would get rather dirty in a matter of days in my handbag.

2. Panda-ora’s Bag – such a cute little bag, reminds me of an orange cat one that I own from Fruits Basket! I love the little leaf details on the zip pulls.

3. 23 Flavours of Fab Lunch Box – Dr Pepper – Im always a sucker for tin lunch boxes.

4. Arcade Parade Necklace – very cute retro game necklace, would prefer it in silver though, or colourful.

5. Modzilla Necklace – also comes in black!

6. Aesop’s Fable Necklace in Fox – amazing fox necklace! Reminds me of children’s fairy tales…

7. Camera Obscura Necklace – gonna see if my dad will make me one of these!

8. Time for Romance Necklace – very ornate fob watch, the back is pretty too

9. Friendly Robot Necklace – lovely robot necklace with movable joints!

10. The Poirot Ring – the funniest ring I have seen for a long time!

11. Urban Forest Rings – tiny ornaments on rings are fun, but I fear they will break off quite easily?!

12. Hello Tootsies Socks – love long socks, love Hello Kitty…

13. Winter Semester Socks in Marshmallow – they look so comfy!

14. Anything Bows Headband – I think this would look really cute in my hair.

15. Heartbeats Cuff – chunky cuff for your wrist, very bold design

16. Two Servings a Day Belt – I have been looking for a new belt, and this is so yummy!

17. A-Bot Time Keychain – I think I love robots!

18. Onassis Dress – plain and simple yet very wearable for me. I have an issue with dresses, as I dont own many and never did for many years, so I am forcing them upon myself!

19. Glimmering Girl Dress

20. Frock and Roll Party Queen in Sandy – I seem to love big bows on dresses…

21. The Christine Dress – so cute but out of stock

22. Auld Lang Syne Dress – big and puffy!

23. The Gilda Dress

24. Picture Day Jumper in Khaki – I would love to wear this with a comfy top on underneath

25. Creme de la Creme Sweater Dress – this is so me! If I had to pick one dress from this line up it would be this one.

26. Gettysburg A-Dress

27. Pump Up the Volume Dress – huge puff ball!

28. No Place Like Gnome Tshirt

29. Ele-fun Tee

30. Paradise Kitty Tank Top – its like your boobs are winking at you!

31. Frosting on Top

32. Kawaii Cuisine Bento Box in Giraffe

33. Coffee Nymphs Mug

34. The Vintage Home book – as I love inspiration

35. Apple of my Eye Mirror – would look great in the bathroom!

36. Pear-y Cute Bento Boxes

37. The Better to Bond with You Tape Dispenser – so so so so cute!

38. I See You Mug

39. Lovely Little Labbit Rabbits

.

Two of the hamsters were fighting today so I had to separate them to individual cages. I got hamster blood on my hands, I was not impressed!

Myself and Ryan are off to Bluewater this evening, mostly to see Rick Stein and hopefully get a book signed in Waterstones, but also to do some shopping! I cant wait, it should be fun. I should actually be getting dressed but I’m eating left over pizza

Jenn x

Astig talaga itong si Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.

Siya lang ang boksingerong nakatanggap ng pitong titulo sa iba’t-ibang dibisyon sa kasaysayan ng buong mundo.  Ang huli ay nakamit niya pagkatapos niyang talunin si Miguel Cotto sa ika-12 round at ito’y namimintong maging walo kung tatalunin niya si Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Kahanga-hanga,  kaya naman ako’y napapangiti kapag naririnig ko ang kanyang ini-endorse na deodorant na bahagi ng patalastas habang ako’y nanonood ng telebisyon.

Lahat sa kanya ay matigas pati dila.

Naisip ko tuloy. Eh ano kung matigas ang dila niya? Di nga matigas ang dila ko wala naman akong bilyong pera.

Kainis talaga!

Играть в пєкмєн

Who IS BETTER?

(thanks to ryancanlas for the pic)

The world may have stopped, but the people have certainly NOT stopped talking.

All activity might have stopped from the busy streets to small households all over the Philippines during the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto title match, but indeed people haven’t stopped talking.  Prior to his fight against Cotto, Pacquiao was reported to have flown sexy actress Krista Ranillo and her family to Las Vegas, all-expense paid, to witness him fight live at the MGM Grand.  News then came out that Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee stayed in a different hotel and was seen twice on television in tears.  Thus came the birth of Team Jinkee on Facebook and Krista Ranillo being labeled the “Pakbet” or “Pacman’s Kabet”.  Although information about this love triangle started even before Pacquiao’s fight, it wouldn’t seem to let on even after the Champ won his 7^th straight world title, making the match a significant event in boxing history and strengthening his stature as the world’s greatest boxer.

Pacquiao-Cotto Weigh-In (November 12, 2009 - Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images North America)

KEATS LONDON/PDI http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/ThePacquiaoFiles/

However, publicity brought by the infidelity issue is most likely not what Pacquiao’s political strategists had in mind.  But publicity, bad as it is, could be repackaged to suit the party’s interests with the right reinforcement.  And reinforcement comes when Jinkee Pacquiao becomes more vocal than her husband in interviews saying that she and her husband are working things out by talking things over.  This is such an overrated line that has been used way before Sharon and Gabby, Pops and Martin and even Kristin and Diether.  Funny because at the same time, Jinkee pleads to the public to respect her family’s privacy and her children’s welfare then suddenly the Manny-Jinkee love story is featured in a Sunday showbiz news show.

All the media coverage he’s given leads me to think this is another election propaganda conveniently reinforced by the surge of Filipino pride.  Pacquiao has been vocal about his bid for Sarangani congressman in the 2010 elections.  His closeness with known politicians and businessmen like Chavit Singson and Lito Atienza is not without a tinge of political agenda.

This issue gives the message that Manny is still “human” like any of us, more importantly his constituents despite being on the pedestal his achievements have placed him in.  It balanced the good and the bad about him and emphasized his “family man” persona, the devoted husband and doting father.

Once again, politics is show business.  We are looking at a very sly example of the classic appeal to emotions approach by a would-be politician.  Though it’s obviously the norm, do we actually want to make it the standard?

This piece was showcased in the “Creative Instinct” show in SF’s Space Gallery, October of 2008. The original will be going up for sale with some more pieces from my original collection. If you would like a piece of art, but cannot afford the original, a selection of my pieces will be available in print. Stay tuned, I’ll let you know when they go up!

“Pound for Pound,” Aeresol Acrylic Paint on 12″ Vinyl

“Apl” -Aeresol Acrylic Paint on 12″ Vinyl. 2008

~JM

a huge manny pacquiao billboard on top of nike building right at union square! how cool is that??? i wish there is also a billboard of efren penaflorida at union square!!!  with charice, arnel pineda, pacman and efren making positive marks in the world, filipinos must be proud to be filipinos and if some of you are not, well magtago ka na lang sa saya ng lola mo, loser!

this picture was taken at burger bar at macy’s 6th floor!

]]> http://kuyadanielrazon.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/public-service-in-pacman-and-kuya-daniels-heart/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:45:52 +0000 angelaborromeo http://kuyadanielrazon.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/public-service-in-pacman-and-kuya-daniels-heart/ http://ludosofy.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/pacman-causes-crime/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:13:43 +0000 ludosofy http://ludosofy.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/pacman-causes-crime/

Actually, what this shows that there is no connection between violent crime and GTA. The trend of blaming video games for violent crime is rubbish.

I’ve been trying to find something on this for a while, but this picture was actually encountered on a random stumble to http://www.kobrascorner.com/images/vgame-graph.png.

As this weekend’s much awaited Formula D Pro Am event at Irwindale Speedway draws near, the members of the Motor Mavens Crew from Los Angeles are getting more and more excited to see all our friends from all the different grassroots drifting scenes from all over the country.

Our whole crew has a ton of respect for all the grassroots drivers out there; they are certainly working hard to step their game up and make it into the pro ranks… and for me personally, I think sometimes watching the grassroots guys compete is even more exciting than watching the pro drivers go at it. Some people may be thinking, “What?! Are you crazy?” I know, I know… it may be a bit different to outsiders or to those who are just sitting in the stands… but for those of us who circulate through the pit areas and go to the different shops and hang out with the drivers even outside of track events, it’s really inspiring to see the hard work and perseverance of normal, everyday individuals, the grassroots enthusiasts, pay off.

This is what passion is all about. And this is why I think people are crazy when people think drifting is just a fad. Maybe it is for outsiders… but for the people who live and breathe this stuff day in and day out, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

One guy who lives and breathes drifting is Roland Gallagher. The first time I saw Roland drive was at Formula D Las Vegas, where he was competing to earn his invite to the Pro Am. I was standing trackside with my younger brother David, and I saw this flash of teal pass me, followed by clouds of billowing white tiresmoke. My eyes followed the tiresmoke and somehow became fixated on his WHEELS which had ridiculously fat lips… I remember muttering “helllll yeah” under my breath, because these days, it’s becoming more and more rare to see drift cars with good looking wheels and stance on the FD circuit. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens!

35 yr old suspected bank robber, John H (Pacman) Ford pulled a fast one on cops by destroying incriminating evidence against himself (note demanding money) right under their noses.

A review of the vid recorded by the dashboard mounted cam of the patrol car provides a clue as to how he did this

Click here . . .

Hi BB Gamers,

Here is the updated of new games with OTA link.

We would suggest you to join the facebook blackberry community for free thus you could see the update of freeappsblackberry.wordpress.com from your facebook account.

Join Facebook group for Free Apps, Games Blackberry by click at blackberry community.

 You also could share the freeappsblackberry.wordpress.com review to your friends at facebook by click the facebook share at right side or click share facebook

Super Mario 2

One of the Great Classics comes to your BlackBerry. This is actually pretty well done.

OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Pearl and Newer

First Past the Post

Cool little Java Horse racing game. Features are: Over 6000 different horses, ensuring every race is unique, features over 50 real tracks from across the UK and Ireland, straight Win and Each Way betting, engine fine tuned to ensure every race is exciting and unpredictable right up to the finish line. Hit alt and shift keys to put BlackBerry on number mode to navigate in game.

OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Java Enabled BlackBerry

HangmanDX

Nice little Java Hangman game that works quite well on a BlackBerry. Has over 1500 words with categories such as: Actors, Food, Computer Games, Cities, Pastimes, Animals, Bands, Books, Countries, Films, Lucky Dip, and Actresses. To use this game set your BlackBerry to number “mode” simply click alt and then shift. To change a category select the 4 key and to select a category hit the 5 key.  When game starts use the 4 key to switch between letters and hit the 5 key to select the letter. This worked on a Bold quite well and should work on most newer BlackBerry’s

OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Java Enabled BlackBerry

BlockBerry

Another Tetris game for the BlackBerry.

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Free apps games Blackberry : OTA  
Compatible with: Pearl

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Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Curve and 8800

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Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: 8900
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Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Bold

Lights Out 1.0

The goal of this game is to turn off the lights by clicking on them. When you click on a light to toggle it, it also toggles the lights next to it vertically and horizontally. It’s not as easy as it looks! This game is packed with an unlimited number of puzzles that will leave you stumped. A built in hint system is there for you when you need it.

Download Page – This is a link to the download page
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Storm

Flight Path 1.11

The goal of the game is to fly your plane through the center of the rings coming at you. You get points for every ring you fly through, and the closer you get to the center of the ring, the more points you get. When you fly through a ring, you will be evaluated on a scale of Perfect, Good and Sloppy. Get a lot of Perfects or Goods in a row, and you will build up your score multiplier which will give you even more points!

Download Page – This is a link to the download page
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA  

Compatible with: Storm

Pacman

Classic game for your BlackBerry. This one works with the latest models.

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Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Pearl, 83xx, 85xx, 88xx
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Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: 8900, Bold, Tour

Archaenon 2.0

If you like Bejeweled and Diamond Quest, Archaenon is right up your alley! The aim of Archaenon is to remove all the boxes, always ensuring that there are two boxes of the same color left beside each other. The level is completed when you succeed in removing all of the boxes, which takes a bit of strategic thinking. Features: Beautiful graphics, 3 difficulty levels, Dynamically created scenarios meaning: UNLIMITED HOURS OF PUZZLY FUN. Controls: Make sure you hit alt and shift to use number mode – 6=Right, 4=Left, 2-Up, 8=Down, 5=Select. Note: Internet Connection Required. On Intro push TrackBall to start game.

OTA DOWNLOAD – Download from Phone Browser
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Min Requirements: OS 4.3

Dots

Now you can play this classic pencil & paper game right on your BlackBerry! This fun game is easy to understand and enjoyable for all ages. Starting with an empty grid of dots, players take turns, adding a single horizontal or vertical line between two unjoined adjacent dots. A player who completes the fourth side of a box earns one point and takes another turn. The game ends when no more lines can be placed. The winner of the game is the player with the most points. All you have to do is click on the space between adjacent dots to add a line connecting them. Enjoy the fun graphics and unlimited number of move undos while you improve your skills against the computer or defeat your friend!

Download Page – This is a link to the download page
Free apps games Blackberry : OTA
Compatible with: Storm and Storm2