How to code OpenGL programs on Ubuntu?

After searching for a long time, I've finally found a solution on how to use Code::Blocks to work with OpenGL APIs. 

Code::Blocks is an IDE just like Visual Studio on Windows. Install Code::blocks from the Ubuntu Repository by typing this at the terminal.

sudo apt-get install codeblocks

Once you're done, you need to download files that support OpenGL. You need to install the following package for it to work.

freeglut3 & freeglut3-dev - For GLUT Library. It installs some files into your /usr/include/GL/ folder.

libsdl1.2-dev - For SDL Library. It installs some files into your /usr/include/SDL/ folder.

To install these type the following at the terminal.

sudo apt-get install freeglut3

sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev 

sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2-dev

Once you're done with this library installation, you should tell the Code::Blocks to link to the correct library for it to be able to execute GLUT/SDL programs. This is how you do it.

1. Open Code:Blocks (You can find this in Applications -> Programming -> Code::Blocks or type codeblocks at your terminal)

2. Go to Settings -> Compiler and Debugger.

3. Open Linker Settings tab. And under "Link Libraries" add "glut" for GLUT, "SDL", "GLU" and "GL" for SDL. 

4. Click OK and you're now done with it. Now your CodeBlocks should be able to compile OpenGL - GLUT/SDL code. Compile a running code to check.

If it didn't work then please comment on this post so that i can help you. 

PS: The whole procedure is to install both GLUT and SDL Libraries. But it is always any one, either GLUT or SDL, that is used. So if you want to install any one of them then skip the instructions that are for the other one. 

Google Gears - Offline Gmail

I always love Google for its extreme ideas. That is why my blog has lot of posts on Google stuff. Google gears is an offline way of handling Web sites. The best one is the Google mail. Gmail.

Now you can access your Gmail inbox while you are offline. Here is an how-to guide for that.

Step 1: Go to gears.google.com and install Google gears.

Step 2: Open your Gmail inbox with any browser. And go to the labs section. To go to the labs section, click on the green conical flask shown on the top-right of your screen along with options like 'Settings' and 'Sign out'.

Step 3: Enable the 'Offline Gmail' option here. And then save changes.

Now your account will be reloaded with one more new option called 'Offline' near the labs 'settings' option. Clicking on that will take you to the Offline mode. When you do this for the first time,  all your mails, attachments photos and everything will be copied on to the system. So don't enable this option if you are using public computers.

Now you will have a shortcut to Gmail on your desktop. Click that. Login. Then go Online and your new mails will be downloaded to your system. You can then go back offline and check your new mails.

If you have lot of mails in your inbox, the first time download is a painful task. Try it! :)

Google Gears is not just confined for GMail. There are lot other websites that can be handled with Gears.

Google Earth 5 - What's New?

I hadn't been using Google earth for a long time. But after considering the lot of fuss being made on twitter and other communities, I thought of trying it out myself. It was, as always, nice.

The new features added to this are

Oceans - Earlier versions of Google Earth of course had oceans but not clear enough. With the new Google earth 5.0, nooks and crannies on the surface of the earth inside the oceans can be viewed. That makes it so good. Now you can dive into the ocean and check out some deeps!

History Imagery - The earlier versions of Google Earth showed pictures of locations which were taken sometime back. Now, Google Earth can take you back in history and show you how the locations looked like.

Recording Tour - Sharing your tour route has always been troublesome while explaining it to others. But not anymore with your Google Earth 5.0. You can now record your tour with a click of button. Click on the record button and fly through the destinations you went by. Click stop and then you can save the tour route. Upload it to YouTube and share it with the world. Simple! Isn't it?

3D Mars - Now this is my favourite. Google Earth had already released the sky view in its previous versions. The clarity was just quite lousy. Now, Google in collaboration with 'NASA' has released this new feature - 3D Mars. By selecting Mars from the Toolbar,  the surface of the Mars can be viewed with clarity and resolution high enough. You can see Mons Olympus, the biggest Volcano in the solar system. All those things you read in General Knowledge books can be experienced now. Isn't that Cool?
Check out this video released by Google through its blog.

Google has answer to life, the universe and everything!

This is funny!

Do you know what is the answer to life, the universe and everything? No?

But Google has. :)

Go to Google.com and type in the search field,  "answer to life, the universe and everything", without quotes. The answer is ??? Check out yourselves.

The answer is not a philosophical book of 100 pages or anything. Its the Google calculator that calculates your answer. And the answer is very simple if you don't waste time thinking more about the answer. Now, why is that answer so funny?

Here goes the story: The whole concept is taken from Douglas Adam's fictional series "Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy". The series was screened into a movie in 2005 by the same name. Researchers, passionate to know the answer to life, the universe and everything construct a super computer called "Deep Thought". Deep thought was questioned this and Deep thought computed for 7 and half million years before the quest ended. The computer provides this answer "Fourty-two". Deep Thought was pretty sure of its answer. To say anything more than this will be called spoiler to the book and movie. But why on the earth did Douglas select 42 of all the numbers? Its his story, his book and HIS CHOICE.

Bangalore routes - www.vidteq.com

www.vidteq.com

Haven't seen a site like this. Simply great! A new bangalore based startup has brought us this amazingly good and helpful website.

Bangalore is such a big city that remembering all the routes is not so possible. Now vidteq has brought this wonderful site that comes in handy if you are moving around in Bangalore. Vidteq gives you the complete direction for driving between any two places in Bangalore. Just enter the starting point and the destination place. Vidteq gives you the driving map on the right side of the screen and the driving directions at the left bottom of the screen. And above this driving directions, you get a video terminal which shows you a pre-shot video of that route. Being on time is easy now. :)

Enjoy!

Google Calculator

Google calculator is a hidden feature of Google search. No need of separate URL. Just log in to Google.com and type in whatever you want to calculate. You can type anything like 100+130 or it can even be trigonometry of sin(30) or it can be anything. Operators that can be used are

Operator	Function	Example
+	addition	5+3
-	subtraction	9-4
*	multiplication	8*5
/	division	23/2
^	exponentiation(raise to the power of)	6^4
%	modulo	8%7
choose	X choose Y determines the number of ways of choosing a set of Y elements from a set of X elements	19 choose 3
th root of	calculates the nth root of a number	6th root of 64
% of	X % of Y computes X percent of Y	20% if 150
sqrt	square root	sqrt(25)
sin, cos etc...	Trigonometric function	tan(45)
ln	logarithm to the base e	ln(4)
log	logarithm to the base 10	log(pi)
!	Factorial	8!

 

It also understand the value of 'pi'. Like, you can use sin(pi/3). You can also use parenthesis to make a perfect equation. The equation inside the parenthesis will be evaluated first and then the rest.
You can also use this as converters. If you want to know x kms in terms of miles, then just type in 10kms in miles.
Conversion from decimal to binary is easy. For example, type 54 to binary. You can use hexadecimal, octal and binary numbers. Prefix hexadecimal numbers with 0x, octal numbers with 0o and binary numbers with 0b. For example: 0x7f + 0b10010101.
It also understands when you say speed of light or just c. 
Not all the features of Google Calculator are included here. You can convert decimal to hexadecimal or even roman numerals. Just as described above with binary conversion. Google Calculator also understands some complex statements like this G*(6e24 kg)/(4000 miles)^2. It understands these 'kg', 'miles' and even the constants like 'G'.

Not all the features of Google Calculator is described here. Just get on Google and start experimenting with this. 
Isn't this cool? A search engine not just a search engine.

Windows 7 - A short review

I tried Windows 7 Ultimate pre-Beta version. Its still under testing. And it of course have some flaws which are getting better with every update.

I must say that this is not that bad. Windows after releasing Windows Vista might have realised that it was an extreme releasing making it unable to work on most of the PCs. Vista's requirements were quite high and non-economical. But people who were able to run on their machines said, its cool! And it was. Graphics, Speed, features were terribly good! Features like Ready boost were added.

To counter act the incompatibility of Vista, Microsoft came with Windows 7. Windows 7 is compatible even with some 5 year old computer. It runs with no graphics card. :) Requirements are optimal.
Looks of Vista with features of XP - This is how I can best describe this OS.
The traditional taskbar is given modification. No differentiation between the quick icons and the regular minimised windows. All look same. This new one actually sucks!  Thank god we can change it to the traditional taskbar.
The glossy look of Windows Vista are restored.
Paint and calculators are given some modification too. (I thought Microsoft had forgotten those applications)
Best thing that  I happened to see is the Action center. If something goes wrong, the OS can self diagnose the machine for troubleshooting. Its really cool! 
The animations are simple and don't eat away your RAM as much as Vista did.
I heard that the Microsoft is going to give some good Bluetooth Support in its Beta version.
I still use my Windows XP as second OS.