Slashdot Mirror

Farakin brings us a story about how cameras in roughly 200 Chicago schools are being connected to police headquarters and the city's 911 emergency center. The goal of the effort is to "consolidate video surveillance," and it will involve both routine monitoring and real-time updates to officers on their way to a crisis. According the the Chicago Tribune, "The mayor acknowledged the cameras provide only limited security, citing a spate of shootings in recent days that have claimed young victims during after-school hours." The story also contains a video in which Mayor Daley indicated that he expects the cameras to serve as a deterrent now that people know they're under the eye of the police.

dhclab49 asks: "Recently, I wrote a data-driven web application for a customer, and when it came time for them to select a hosting company, what I found was that most hosting companies charge a LOT for disk space. Most of them have accounts for $10-$30 per month, a bit more if you add in a database account. However, they almost all limit you to around 250MB of disk space, with extra space costing like $1/month per additional MB of storage. The app I wrote manages the customer's workflow and is meant to allow them to generate PDF documents and store them online, so I really need a few gigs. In an era where hard disks cost about a buck a gig and are getting cheaper by the day, how can hosting companies charge $1000 per gigabyte per YEAR?! And are there any alternatives out there for hosting a data-driven website at a reliable datacenter with a few GB of space for under $500/mo?"

Kurt has returned, continuing his reviews of Linux IDE ^[?] environments. After reviewing Code Fusion, he's reviewed Metrowerks CodeWarrior (for Suse). The full text of the review is below. CodeWarrior For SuSE
CodeWarrior for RedHat

• Company:Metrowerks
• Rating:9/10
• Summary:Inexpensive solution for those looking for an IDE solution.

It is difficult to have worked in the tech industry without having come into contact with Metrowerks. Metrowerks CodeWarrior is the dominant compiler for MacOS, with ports to Windows, Solaris, a wide variety of microprocessors, and fairly recently, Linux. The current version of CodeWarrior for Linux, version 4.0, supports C and C++, with plans for Java support in late 1999. CodeWarrior is targeted at the beginning or hobbyist programmer. While CodeWarrior lacks some of the features of its more expensive competitors, it provides a basic, low cost solution.

CodeWarrior is by far the easiest installation I have ever performed on a Linux box. I threw in the CD, answered a couple of questions, and it installed it without a problem. While I already had EGCS installed on my machine, it is a prerequisite for installation. For those who do not have EGCS installed, the CD contains a copy and the installation guide includes instructions for setting it up.

Anyone who has used CodeWarrior on any other platform will be able to easily dive straight into CodeWarrior for Linux. The interface is exactly the same. For those without previous experience, the interface is logically laid out and very usable without depending on documentation. For those who have been weaned on Microsoft Visual Studio, the interface may feel a little MacOS-like, but overall everything is well designed and very easy to use.

In addition to the standard IDE features like integrated debugging, color coded source, and simplified project management, CodeWarrior has an important advantage in that its projects are cross platform compatible. Of course, it is still up to the programmer to develop cross platform code, it at least simplified the process of migrating code between plaforms.

In spite of all of its wonderful design elements, it is not without a few annoying elements. First, whenever you create a new project, it is always named "Hello." It doesn't matter if you create a project named "foo." You still need to go under the project settings and change the Target Name manually. While this may be simply picking nits, it is a rather annoying oversight.

While CodeWarrior is targeting to individuals and relatively small projects, even some of these people have learned the wonders of using a version control system to roll back a few idiotic changes. Unfortunately, the Linux port has very poor version control abilities. Straight out of the box, there is no source control functionality. Furthermore, Metrowerks does not provide any of the necessary plug-ins to add source control to the Linux version. According to a representative from Metrowerks, they have plans to provide the necessary interfaces, but no resources have yet been allocated to the project. The specification, however, is open so that anyone desiring could create the necessary plug-in. Anyone interested in developing the necessary plug-ins should go to http://www.metrowerks.com/pdf/Plugin_API_Ref.pdf.

CodeWarrior is a low cost solution ideal for Linux developers who absolutely have to have an IDE. For users who need a lot of the extra features that make the switch from vi to an IDE worth while, CodeWarrior is somewhat lacking. These developers may wish to look to Code Fusion or other similar products with a more complete set of tools.

For the small scale individual or hobbies programmer, CodeWarrior provides a friendly environment to develop programs in. While it lacks some of the more advanced features found in other IDEs, it is a well designed program with an excellent balance of features. For a mere fraction of the cost of many competitors' products, it also is well within the range of people who are on a tight budget.

Kurt has returned, continuing his reviews of Linux IDE ^[?] environments. After reviewing Code Fusion, he's reviewed Metrowerks CodeWarrior (for Suse). The full text of the review is below. CodeWarrior For SuSE
CodeWarrior for RedHat

• Company:Metrowerks
• Rating:9/10
• Summary:Inexpensive solution for those looking for an IDE solution.

It is difficult to have worked in the tech industry without having come into contact with Metrowerks. Metrowerks CodeWarrior is the dominant compiler for MacOS, with ports to Windows, Solaris, a wide variety of microprocessors, and fairly recently, Linux. The current version of CodeWarrior for Linux, version 4.0, supports C and C++, with plans for Java support in late 1999. CodeWarrior is targeted at the beginning or hobbyist programmer. While CodeWarrior lacks some of the features of its more expensive competitors, it provides a basic, low cost solution.

CodeWarrior is by far the easiest installation I have ever performed on a Linux box. I threw in the CD, answered a couple of questions, and it installed it without a problem. While I already had EGCS installed on my machine, it is a prerequisite for installation. For those who do not have EGCS installed, the CD contains a copy and the installation guide includes instructions for setting it up.

Anyone who has used CodeWarrior on any other platform will be able to easily dive straight into CodeWarrior for Linux. The interface is exactly the same. For those without previous experience, the interface is logically laid out and very usable without depending on documentation. For those who have been weaned on Microsoft Visual Studio, the interface may feel a little MacOS-like, but overall everything is well designed and very easy to use.

In addition to the standard IDE features like integrated debugging, color coded source, and simplified project management, CodeWarrior has an important advantage in that its projects are cross platform compatible. Of course, it is still up to the programmer to develop cross platform code, it at least simplified the process of migrating code between plaforms.

In spite of all of its wonderful design elements, it is not without a few annoying elements. First, whenever you create a new project, it is always named "Hello." It doesn't matter if you create a project named "foo." You still need to go under the project settings and change the Target Name manually. While this may be simply picking nits, it is a rather annoying oversight.

While CodeWarrior is targeting to individuals and relatively small projects, even some of these people have learned the wonders of using a version control system to roll back a few idiotic changes. Unfortunately, the Linux port has very poor version control abilities. Straight out of the box, there is no source control functionality. Furthermore, Metrowerks does not provide any of the necessary plug-ins to add source control to the Linux version. According to a representative from Metrowerks, they have plans to provide the necessary interfaces, but no resources have yet been allocated to the project. The specification, however, is open so that anyone desiring could create the necessary plug-in. Anyone interested in developing the necessary plug-ins should go to http://www.metrowerks.com/pdf/Plugin_API_Ref.pdf.

CodeWarrior is a low cost solution ideal for Linux developers who absolutely have to have an IDE. For users who need a lot of the extra features that make the switch from vi to an IDE worth while, CodeWarrior is somewhat lacking. These developers may wish to look to Code Fusion or other similar products with a more complete set of tools.

For the small scale individual or hobbies programmer, CodeWarrior provides a friendly environment to develop programs in. While it lacks some of the more advanced features found in other IDEs, it is a well designed program with an excellent balance of features. For a mere fraction of the cost of many competitors' products, it also is well within the range of people who are on a tight budget.

With the increasing momentum in the Linux world, more and more productivity applications have been coming out for Linux. Kurt DeMaagd, who's spent quite sometime in other IDEs, has reviwed Cygnus Solutions' "Code Fusion". Click below to read more about it.

• Company: Cygnus Solutions
• Rating: 9/10
• Summary:With the exception of a few minor annoyances, most notably in the installation process, Code Fusion provides a full range of features for an excellent price.

Cygnus is already a familiar face in the Linux world. They are known for products such as GNUPro Toolkit and Source-Navigator, as well as their support for a variety of other open source projects. Their most recent addition to their product line is Code Fusion, a product which merges and enhances the GNUPro Toolkit and Source- Navigator to create a since integrated development environment.

While there have been instances where people have had troubles installing Code Fusion, I was able to set it up and run it without a hitch. Nonetheless, there were several elements of the install process that could be improved. First, you have to enter a different directory and run a separate install script depending on which version of glibc you are running. Once the setup is complete, you then need to setup several environment variables. While this process is well documented, the risk of typographical errors and the general inconvenience warrant automating this process.

After getting past the mild inconveniences of the installation process, I started up the program and began testing. While Code Fusion comes with a couple example projects and the book has some tutorials, I decided to venture out on my own and create a new project from scratch. And what better way to test a program than to write a Hello World app. Of course, to adequately test all of Code Fusions project browsing featuers, I broke it up into 5 classes.

It took me a couple minutes to figure out how to create new files. It seemed logical to me that the Project Editor window, where you can add, move or delete files, would also let you create a file, but that option is lacking. After digging around menus, I found that the Window menu allowed to you open the Source Editor window, where you can create files.

The Source Editor window provides a variety of convenient options. As with any good IDE, it color codes all our your source. The command to build your code is just a click away. Perhaps most conveniently, it is integrated with a variety of version control programs. In general, it provides a very convenient environment for cranking out code.

Having quickly whipped up all of the classes of my Hello World app, I moved to the feature where Code Fusion really shined, the various project browsers. This feature allows you a wide variety of ways to display your program. It includes a cross reference browser, an include browser, a class browser, and a hierarchy browser.

Finally, I tested the debugging features. This includes all of the standard features expected from any debugger, such as breakpoints, watches, stack traces, etc. Unlike a majority of the debuggers on the market, the screen where you edit the code and the screen where you set break points are different. Having been reared on Microsoft Visual Studio, and given that this differs from the industry standard, this is rather inconvenient. In spite of this, I found the debugger to be generally easy to use and it sure beats using a printf every other line.

Overall, Code Fusion is a very useful product. Any software developer, with the exception of the vi-loving death-before-IDE people, will find its wide variety of features helpful. And with a price under $300, it is financially well within the reach of most individuals and companies.

List Price $299 ($207.43 at CDW)

James Ratliff wrote in to tell us that the iMac's are now available. He sent a link to CDW where you can read the exact specs and cost. Considering that MKLinux DR3 announcement below, and the stunning speed of those G3s, all I can say is I want one bad. It would be interesting to compare Netwinders and iMac's as thin linux clients. Or I guess you could leave MacOS on it...