squeakland September 2005

squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org

13 participants
12 discussions

Reminder: an updated Squeak for the new school year
by Kim Rose 06 Sep '05

06 Sep '05

Greetings, Squeaklanders! It's back to school time for many of us. We want to make sure you're aware that a fully updated Squeak Etoy version is now available via the Squeakland.org website. Just click the "Download Squeak" button at the center of the homepage. It is not necessary to move or delete any old files before downloading the new version; the installer will write over the necessary files. Our intention is that this version remain largely unaltered throughout the duration of the '05/06 school year. We may need to issue occassional small fixes during the year, so please remember to periodically check for updates as it is always best to run the latest, greatest version. The biggest difference between this version and last year's release is reflected by work done on a "low level" to enable Squeak's ability to work in multiple languages. What is super-cool now, is that Squeak is able to check (using your system's default language setting) and auto-launch the etoy system with tiles appropriate to your country/language. So, if your computer is set to use German as the default language, for example, your Squeak will launch with German language tiles! This work is quite complicated and we thank all those involved to make this 'language localization' possible. (We're just completing this work for Linux users so if you are a Linux user, please check back for updates in a week or so.) Should you want to disable this automatic language setting (maybe your computer defualt language is German, but you want to use Squeak in English) disable the preference "useLocale" in the "general" category of the preference manager. If you are using the system in a different language than english and would like to have the default language to be different by default, just launch Squeak from the shortcut on the desktop, wait until it switched language (flaps re-appear) and then save the image. Another new feature to this year's release is "Kedama" -- Yoshiki Ohshima's particle system that allows for the creation of simulations to visualize the movement/behavior of atoms, ants, fireflies, fires, viruses, etc., etc. -- anything that requires the tracking of 100s to thousands of objects. You'll find "Kedama" in the Object Catalog (in the Supplies flap). We'll shortly be posting a SqueakNews article that will include a general tutorial on getting started with Kedama along with several particle system simulation examples. As always, please let us know if you have any problems with the installation of this new version or if you experience any difficulties loading projects, saving, etc., etc. If you do encounter something unusual, the more information you can send us (what OS you are using, error message received, include jpegs or file attachments if possible) will greatly help us troubleshoot the problem. Thanks to all of you who tested the beta image of this "Squeakland '05" version -- your time and feedback to us are greatly appreciated! Best to all -- wishing you a fun and happy new academic year - please share your experiences with us! -- Kim

1 0

Re: [Squeakland] NetMorph; squeakland vs. squeak
by Masashi Umezawa 01 Sep '05

01 Sep '05

Hi, Thank you for the interest in NetMorph project. The reason I'm developing NetMorph in Squeak 3.8 is that 3.8 is a sort of stable version. After releasing NetMorph for 3.8, I'll start NetMorph for Squeakland 05. I think it is not so hard work, because Squeakland 05 is based on Squeak 3.8. NetMorph for 3.8 will be released in a few weeks. For Squeakland 05, one more week will be needed. So, please wait patiently. I would like to make NetMorph to be "classroom" quality. Best regards, > Hi Squeakers, > > As events from Squeakfest continue to bubble in my brain and outreach > opportunities present themselves, I've been wondering lately about the > NetMorph demo. I think this sort of functionality, i.e., distributed > objects in Squeak, would be great fun and could lead to some terrific > educational projects. So, my first question is - exactly how steep is the > barrier to getting it working in the Squeakland version of Squeak (since it > was pointed out that it required the "full" Squeak version). > > (Warning: probably leaving the intended range of topics for this list) > This got me to wonder, more generally, about the differences in "full" > Squeak (at squeak.org) vs. Squeakland Squeak and, for that matter, full > Squeak vs. Tweak (or whatever it may eventually be called). For starters, > there's the question of the sizes (disk and memory) of these different > animals. A quick glance at the size of the image from Squeakland05 is ~17M. > After downloading Squeak 3.8, I see its image is ~18M, but there's also a > 14M "changes" file which, I'm assuming is required to run the image? > Running the Squeakland05 app, I see it uses about 28M of memory. The Squeak > 3.8 app uses about the same. > > I guess buried in my ramblings is my concern for yet another open source > software community to be split. My desire to have the NetMorph > functionality, but wanting to stay with the more kid-friendly Squeakland > version of Squeak, is just one semi-frustrating example. > > --Randy > --- [:masashi | ^umezawa]

2 1

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

squeakland September 2005