More Secure Gmail

By default Gamil uses normal http, not secure http to transfer user data. But you can change that behaviour. Just change the http://mail.google.com to https://mail.google.com while you are checking your mail and have more secure and better gmail experience.

We all love Gmail!

Using Javadoc With Eclipse

Normally, when we are coding java in Eclipse, we do not see any javadoc help when we hover over a keyword. This is because by default, eclipse is not configured to use javadoc. This is how you can enable javadoc in eclipse.

1. In the package explorer select the JRE System LIbrary -> rt.jar and go to it's properties.

2. In the Javadoc Location provide the javadoc URL. This may be eiher a URL like "http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/" or a local path like mine "file:/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/docs/api/" (if you have javadoc installed locally, which is recommended)

3. Now when you mouse-hover on a java method or something, you shall see its associated javadoc. If its lengthy and you can't see all of it, press F2.

Sun Studio 11 in Debian

Yesterday when I tried to install sun studio 11 in my Debian Sid, I was a bit disappointed when I learned that they only provide the rpm packages for Sun Studio. Anyways, I was able to install that with the help of alien.

Here is a short how-to of doing that:

1. Download sun studio 11 from here.

2. Install some necessary packages:

$sudo apt-get install libmotif-dev sun-java5-jdk fakeroot alien

[Note: This version of sun studio does not run with sun-java6-jdk]

3. Go to the folder where you downloaded sun studio and execute these:

mkdir sun-studio
cd sun-studio/
tar xvjf ../studio11-lin-x86.tar.bz2
cd kits/ide/
mkdir packages_deb
cd ../packages
cp `ls -1 *.rpm | grep -v locale | grep -v motif | \
grep -v x86_64` ../packages_deb/
cd ../packages_deb/
fakeroot alien *
rm -f *.rpm
sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite *.deb

[Note: If you are running a 64 bit OS then omit grep -v x86_64 part.]

4. The installation is complete now.

Both Sun Studio and NetBeans IDE are installed in /opt/sun by default.

Now you can run Netbeans IDE 3.5 by running this:

$/opt/sun/netbeans/3.5V11/bin/runide.sh -jdkhome /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun

And run Sun Studio 11 by executing this:

$/opt/sun/sunstudio11/bin/sunstudio --jdkhome /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun

[Note: The package comes bundled with j2sdk 1.4 (look inside kits folder), so you can also install that in place of sun-java5-sdk. When you alien that rpm be sure to use the '--scripts' switch.]

You can find more info here.

Who Says Penguin Can't Game?

My close friend Himel always gets me on the nerve when he says that "Linux is bad cause you can't play 3D games there". Yeah, he is a die hard gamer and always keeps himself busy in playing different games. And in this regard he is partially right as game developer rarely provide any Linux port of their games.

Well, those days are over my friend. Its now easily possible to play windows games in Linux, thanks to TransGaming Technologies' Cedega, formerly known as the Winex. Based on the wine project this software tries to run windows games in Linux using OpenGL. Many popular games are now playable in Linux including Need For Speed Carbon, FIFA 06, Oblivion, Max Payne, Hitman, Half Life 2 etc.

I installed cedega 6 on my Ubuntu 7.04 yesterday and was able to play my favourite game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy on my nVidia card. I had to install nVidia proprietary driver from their site though.

Here is a screenshot of the game that I have been playing for the last few hours: