Author Topic: Fresh meat.  (Read 5784 times)

zogie

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Fresh meat.
« on: June 22, 2010, 01:29:24 pm »
Hi guys

I'm new to the forums and thought I would introduce myself and see what kind of projects are on the go.  I work as a petrochemical engineer in the Isle of Man (small rock in the Irish sea), and do quite a lot of VB.Net programming making control systems for the factory. 

I have been using Vista MCE for a while (with an Xbox extender as that all you can get) and thought I would build a new "Ultimate" media centre to control my house and act as a file server.  I have had a look around at almost all the programs I could use for this and so far LMCE has the most promise of fulfilling my goal. 

So, it comes down to this, I want to use LMCE but see there are some parts of it I would like to tweak, and as this is a community project thought I would get started by seeing what's already happening rather than just doing my own thing.

My Strengths,
    Hardware Software interfacing, I have a bit of electrical engineering under my belt so I can make some simple hardware.
    VB.Net Syntax
    GUI components (got an A level in art)
    Work instructions / manuals (dull but I do this a lot at work)
My Weaknesses
    Linux, this is the first time I have used it and it's proving a steep learning curve
    C syntax, again I know programming fundamentals but not great with the C syntax
    Beer drinking, or is that a strength? hummmmmm.

Things I was thinking of tweaking
* UI, mainly media searching, making it look prettier, and ironing out some bugs, like sort by album showing 30 same albums when the album contains various artists.
* Play list making, trying to make an add to play list button 

Anyway, I'm gona shut up for now and see if you think I can be of any help.

Graham.

tschak909

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Re: Fresh meat.
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2010, 02:05:22 pm »
We can always use the help. Dive in.

Are you familiar with subversion?

-Thom

zogie

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Re: Fresh meat.
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2010, 02:13:05 pm »
Nope, But i just googled it and it says it's a revision control system, basicly a PDM system.

So I guess there must be some kinda server somwhere where we host all the scorce code and if we want to work on a section we Check it out, update, and check in?

tschak909

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Re: Fresh meat.
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2010, 02:21:10 pm »
Correct.

The repository for the currently working revision is here:
http://svn.linuxmce.org/branches/LinuxMCE-0810/

Our developers Guide is here:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Developers_Guide

Our information on Building LinuxMCE is here:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Building_LinuxMCE_0810

Basically, the process is:

* set up builder
* run one complete pass of builder
* go into where you want to work in the svn checkout it grabs
* work on a piece of code
* use test-pkg.sh to compile and build a package of the code you're working on
* use dpkg to install it (this way, if it borks, you can install the old package to get things back)
* test things
* repeat until ready to check in
* when ready to check in, grab a clean checkout of the tree, somewhere else in your filesystem
* copy your changes into that checkout
* check them in

For now, since you're new, we'll ask you to make diffs, that we can apply to our systems and check. Once we've seen a few good commits, we'll work on getting you credentials.

I know it's a bit to process, this is a very complex piece of software, but you'll find it to be very flexible and infinitely extensible.

You can also reach us, the rest of the developers, on IRC on the  irc.freenode.net (FreeNode) server, in the #linuxmce-devel channel.

Again, Welcome. There are no time tables or short term pressures. Take your time, and be patient, there is a lot to learn, and the learning curve is steep.

-Thom

zogie

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Re: Fresh meat.
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2010, 03:51:23 pm »
Thanks Thom,

I will have a look around that tonight and see about getting myself a development platform running (Don't want to wreck my current Media Center install).

I think one of my first steps will have to be getting more familiar with linux, I seam to be chansing my tail a bit at the moment.  Google here we come!

zogie

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Re: Fresh meat.
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2010, 12:26:13 am »
Quote
Fresh Meat, your screen name is Swinging Johnson, your first post screams "look at me, Im an attention whore" and you think the moderators here arent going to notice.

Huh? Rather an offensive way of starting communication with someone don't you think? and who's Swinging Johnson?

On a more relevant note, I've had a look around those links Thom, the linux is still a bit over my head at the moment but I think i'm making progress.  I have been playing with bootable USB keys for the last few evenings, been using the WIKI entry on GURB PXE as a guide and trying to sus out what all the commands are doing, which has made me realize that i really need to read up on linux more.


Techstyle

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Re: Fresh meat.
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2010, 01:33:21 am »
Quote
Quote
Fresh Meat, your screen name is Swinging Johnson, your first post screams "look at me, Im an attention whore" and you think the moderators here arent going to notice.

Huh? Rather an offensive way of starting communication with someone don't you think? and who's Swinging Johnson?

Don't worry about him, I think he is just spamming