Raymond's Blog

Articles, page 1

SCons — build your software better
Posted on August 9th, 2011 by

A few years ago I worked on a large (60+ man-year) software project, involving C/C++ and Java. The software stack originated from demonstrator software, and its make files had become unmanageable, and even worse, unreliable. After evaluating a lot of options we rewrote the entire build system based around SCons.

A few weeks ago an ex-collaegue contacted me with some questions how we approached things back then. Today, while attending a children's birthday party a discussion on...

Statetris Reloaded
Posted on July 16th, 2011 by
Statetris never turned out the way I intented it to be. Sure, the idea was sound. When I first launched it in 2007 it was a top story on Digg. The iPhone version got far less traction. Of course, educational gaming is a niche market, but it surely does not help that I was late at entering iPhone development and rushed the game into the app store as fast as possible.
Workrave 1.9.0 released
Posted on July 15th, 2008 by

This release contains the following: Fixed transparency of tray icon on Linux, new alternate activity moniting for Windows, improved 64 bit & Vista support, exercises are now randomized, the language can now be selected in the preferences (Windows), the option 'Start Workrave when Windows starts' has been added to the preferences, extended DBUS support on Unix, initial OSX port, networking support can now be enabled without accepting incoming connections from other Workraves, a sound has been added that indicates a next step...

Workrave 1.8.5 released
Posted on September 29th, 2007 by

Task manager is never blocked by Workrave, workaround for focus loss on Vista, Vanja Cvelbar translated Workrave into Slovenian, fixed breaks that have 'suspend timer when inactive' disabled, improved Windows responsiveness under high load, mode menu fixed, Gnome applet no longer 'hangs', Gnome applet no longer crashes Workrave, fixed crashes during startup on Windows, fixed 'end-of-microbreak' sound, fixed bug in multi-head support where Workrave showed multiple windows on a single screen, fixed locking on Gnome with xscreensaver installed. Many thanks to Ray Satiro...

Launched Festisite's Personalized Money Generator
Posted on April 13th, 2007 by

I launched another gimmick, fun for use on your blog or for handing out: Festisite's Personalized Money Generator . Go ahead, and slap your own photograph on a dollar bill... other than that, festisite.com more or less restructures several poem related web pages from dotsphinx.com .

Workrave 1.8.4 released
Posted on March 4th, 2007 by

This version contains many new translations: Italian (Eraldo Girardi), Chinese (Tao Wei), Slovak (Peter Tuharsky), Greek (Prokopis Prokopidis), Turkish (Enver Altin), Japanese (Masanobu Yokota), Bulgarian (Ivan Dimov), Hungarian (Ory Mate). Furthermore, more polish on the applets was done (e.g. vertical applet support), and the usual bug fixing.

MapMSG extension: Crop circles
Posted on March 3rd, 2007 by

Today I added an extension to the MapMSG.com site. Next to smoke signals, you can now also craft your own crop circles...

MapMSG -- crop circles
MapMSG unleashed
Posted on February 2nd, 2007 by

I released a new site...

Signalling using land marks is an ancient form of communication. Compare this to e-mail, hardly available for half a century and already collapsing by spam.Forget about boring e-cards with flashy animations. Instead, send a unique satellite-visible message, originating from your own house...

Enter: MapMSG.com

MapMSG -- smoke signals
Greek leaflet and upcoming translation
Posted on December 20th, 2006 by

The leaflet is now also available in Greek . Furthermore, the next version will also feature a complete Greek translation of Workrave. Thanks, Prokopis Prokopidis.

Workrave branded for Chiropraktik Hirschengraben
Posted on December 20th, 2006 by

A branded version of Workrave is now available, on request of Chiropraktik Hirschengraben . This version features (next to branding): exercise images using real photography, audible (spoken) exercises, and preconfigured fixed settings. The branded version was created by IntenCT , a company started by Raymond Penners. In compliance to the GPL, all modifications are available in our source archive as well.