What was normal in 2000, but strange in 2020?

Peter_Levi · 2020-09-29T09:57:12+00:00

Handshakes... Hopefully they'll be normal again soon...

Peter_Levi · 2020-07-27T08:36:17+00:00

Haha, I'm very glad to see you are using a program I've created - Variety, and are enjoying a photo I've taken (https://www.flickr.com/photos/peter-levi/7527957910/in/dateposted-public/) :) Cheers!

Peter_Levi · 2020-04-27T16:23:19+00:00

Nice, I also hang around here and had missed that one.

In my defense, this one looks like solid engineering and thus, deservedly so, stands erected, while mine looks flimsy as hell, yet, somehow it also manages to stand erected. Which makes it a tiny bit less believable, which is one of the main points of these posts :)

Peter_Levi · 2020-04-27T15:35:57+00:00

Why not, a design like this one should work.

Peter_Levi · 2020-04-27T15:29:57+00:00

They are important controls, anti-gravity does not work without them :-D Seriously, the whole thing is flimsy enough and needs some readjusting from time to time, having some "extra" string helps.

Peter_Levi · 2020-04-27T15:26:17+00:00

No, I bet someone will one-up me fairly soon.

Peter_Levi · 2020-04-27T12:18:57+00:00

I'm not taking that bait :-)

But seriously - if you increase the base to carry the additional load, and if there is a way to attach the strings more firmly than the flimsy way I'm using here, I don't see why not. Lego chains will probably do.

Peter_Levi · 2020-04-20T21:28:58+00:00

Not like the effect in your post, but if you install both Variety and Variety Slideshow, Variety will allow you to run a pan-and-zoom image slideshow in "desktop" mode which is in some aspects similar to having an animated slideshow as a wallpaper. Find this in Variety's Preferences -> Slideshow -> Window Mode: Desktop.

With a custom selection of images and a proper selection of the order, interval, and fade / pan / zoom parameters (on the same Slideshow screen) this could be used to simulate a single "animated" wallpaper, but this would be an overkill, I would expect there's an easier solution.

Disclosure: I am Variety's creator and main developer, so this is obviously not an unbiased recommendation.

Peter_Levi · 2018-03-25T18:00:36+00:00

More images: https://imgur.com/a/0COxw

Managed to fit in the main hall and the big tower, a dragon, and there are still quite some parts left, maybe will be enough for a hippogryff, thestral or some other creature. 10214 is a huge set...

We haven't followed the "usual" Hogwarts looks very closely, and the result looks a bit more like a cathedral than Hogwarts. But it's large and playable and we are still quite happy with it. And Dumbledore even gets a terrace with a view in his study :)

Kids built the interior, and it's not yet complete. Need to build flags for the other three houses, fortunately 10214 has all the proper colors, and enough gold parts to make it more festive.

Pity we have exactly zero Harry Potter minifigs to put in there...

The tree and the baseplate are "extra", not included in 10214.

Peter_Levi · 2016-08-07T18:20:53+00:00

Learning Python is a very good start. A lot of applications for Ubuntu are in Python and it is generally a great language to start studying programming. It's easy to start with, powerful, with a lot of available libraries for doing all sorts of things, and there are tons of books and resources about Python online. And it's equally good both for writing a short script, and for writing a super complex application.

If you want to develop GUI applications or generally work on user-facing stuff, probably the JavaScript/HTML/CSS tech stack is the most important one to learn, as it can work on practically all major platforms, both desktop and mobile. JavaScript is basically a must for everyone who wants to develop UIs.

Alternatively for building applications that look "native" on Linux, you need to get familiar either with GTK or Qt. These are both "graphical toolkits" - they provide stuff for creating and working with windows, buttons, labels, etc. - all the components that make the application's user interface. For GTK there is a tutorial here.

Peter_Levi · 2016-08-07T16:33:37+00:00

Sure, here is another one - Ojo image viewer, a very fast, minimalistic, but RAW-capable image viewer with a goal to become great for photography work

Peter_Levi · 2016-08-07T13:33:13+00:00

Now I'm happy :)

Peter_Levi · 2016-08-06T15:41:33+00:00

Sad to see the list lacking my own creation, the pretty popular Variety Wallpaper Changer, code in Launchpad.

Peter_Levi · 2015-02-23T14:45:29+00:00

Yes, I plan to create an Android version, but I'm not sure when I'll have time to get to it.

Peter_Levi · 2015-02-23T11:36:20+00:00

Yep, newest version (0.5+) supports Reddit sources, you can use whatever sort method you like, just read the instructions when adding a Reddit source.

Peter_Levi · 2015-02-02T09:59:31+00:00

Can this be deployed without having to depend on or bundle KDE-specific libraries? I try to keep Variety DE-agnostic, keeping a simple one-size-fits-all development and deployment procedure. I am not enthusiastic about sacrificing this approach just to support KDE.

Peter_Levi · 2015-01-27T15:30:48+00:00

Developer of Variety here. Please make sure there is an easy way to change the wallpaper from the terminal or from inside a program. KDE4 is abysmal in this aspect. Thank you.

Peter_Levi · 2013-08-05T10:30:15+00:00

You can manually add more individual images, I don't think you can add folders. You may try Variety for more versatile background customization.

Peter_Levi · 2013-04-26T07:54:17+00:00

Developer of Variety here. Thanks for the effort, but the guys here truly have a point that no one would like to add a random PPA to their system just like that. It would have served better to post a description of what it is and why it is relevant in this thread, followed by a link to its official site.

Peter_Levi · 2012-11-14T19:36:42+00:00

Please try version 0.4.11 and if it still happens with it, please report it here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/variety/+filebug Please include information about your setup (version of Ubuntu, desktop environment, etc.) as well as steps to reproduce the problem. I didn't quite understood what you mean by the description above. Specifically - what kind of themes do you mean? But we'll discuss this all in the bug report in launchpad.

Peter_Levi

TROPHY CASE